Threats to Oceans Rights and Cameroonian Law: A Critical Appraisal

Abstract

Oceans are a primary source of biodiversity, food and life. Mindful of these great value of oceans to mankind, the United Nations Assembly, in order to limit and eliminate illegal human activities from the oceans established the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth which upholds the rights of the oceans, an essential aspect of nature, chiefly; the rights to life and health. Unfortunately, these rights of the ocean are continuously threatened by human activities such as maritime pollution and climate change. This has greatly resulted in depletion of fish stocks limiting their rate of reproduction and alteration of the ocean ecosystem. The objective of this article is to examine the major threats to ocean rights and to critically appraise the extent to which oceans rights have been incorporated within the Cameroonian legal framework. In undertaking this analysis, the article discusses reasons for protecting this valuable natural resource, such as its promising frontier for new drugs, the types of ocean rights, major threats to oceans rights and critically appraises the applicability of the international and national legal instruments governing oceans rights. We adopted a doctrinal methodology, a content analysis of primary and secondary data. Our findings reveal that, oceans do have rights protected under international law which are threatened principally by maritime pollution, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and climate change. These threats to ocean rights are persistent today because some States have failed in honoring their responsibilities at international law to protect the ocean. Many States have incorporated the provisions of the Law of Mother Earth but Cameroon has not enacted a local legislation or incorporated into national law these provisions. We very much recommend that enacting a local legislation or incorporating provisions of the Law of Mother Earth into the Constitution will go a long way in reducing the legal activities carried out in the ocean.