Teaching

Current Courses

Prof. Dr. Valentin Schatz

Sustainable Ocean Law and Governance

This seminar addresses the role, achievements and shortcomings of international law and relevant global and regional actors and institutions in achieving sustainable ocean governance. Its main focus is on the international legal framework governing the sustainable use and protection of the oceans and the international institutions established for the purpose of, or involved in, implementing these legal frameworks (for example, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Seabed Authority (ISA) or regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs)). In the media, we regularly read about the shortcomings of this legal and institutional order (such as the ongoing ‘tragedy of the commons’), with journalists writing bestselling accounts of the oceans as a “lawless frontier” and filmmakers reaching broad audiences with activist documentaries examining “human impacts on marine life”. Against that backdrop, this seminar aims not only to foster an understanding of ocean governance as an integrative concept – i.e., drawing from a broad normative framework – but also to diagnose the reasons for its shortfalls. Specifically, we will focus on environmental sustainability rather than all facets of what ‘sustainable’ ocean governance may entail (e.g., social sustainability, such as human rights, etc.). In essence, we will consider the legal and institutional dimension of UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (“Life below Water”), which encourages us to “[c]onserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”.

The seminar begins by providing a general introduction to the functioning of international law and the main pillars and tenets of the global order of the oceans (particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)). Thereafter, the seminar analyzes specific persistent and/or contemporary challenges and recent or ongoing developments with respect to sustainable ocean governance. These topical sessions and the examples and/or case-studies examined in them highlight the importance not only of international law but also of its implementation through the prescription and enforcement of regional (for example, European) and domestic (for example, German) law.

Ziel: This course will provide a basic understanding of and ability to critically examine the contemporary legal order of the oceans and the role of its governance institutions with a focus on environmental sustainability. The course will enable participants to develop a basic understanding of, and critical perspective on, several examples of current challenges posed to sustainable ocean law and governance on a global and regional level.

Further information about courses you will find the academic portal myStudy.

Current Courses

Emma Charlotte Bartmann

Values 1: UNESCO World Heritage: between international obligation and local interests

Was verbindet das Wattenmeer, Venedig und Machu Picchu - der Status als UNESCO Welterbe. Doch was ist die UNESCO Welterbekonvention und wie schützt sie besondere Kultur- und Naturgüter? Und wann sind diese überhaupt ein globales „Erbe der Menschheit“? Worin bestehen aktuelle Herausforderungen für Welterbestätten und ist der Status als Welterbe überhaupt noch zeitgemäß? Diesen und anderen Fragen soll im Kurs nachgegangen werden. Dabei wird der Schutz des Welterbes in den größeren Kontext des Kultur- und Naturschutzes auf nationaler, europäischer und internationaler Ebene eingeordnet. Das Erlernen rechtlicher Grundlagen soll dabei genauso im Fokus stehen, wie die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Konzept des Welterbes an sich.

Further information about courses you will find the academic portal myStudy.