Artigo Revisado por pares

Reflections on the Estuarine Zone

1991; Routledge; Volume: 31; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

ISSN

0028-0739

Autores

Robert D. Hayton,

Tópico(s)

Coastal and Marine Management

Resumo

Estuaries, the zones where fresh water and saltwater meet and mix, are critical links in the environment. Pollution from multiple sources, both inland and at sea, has seriously degraded the quality and productivity of the estuaries, but little is yet known about them in either the scientific or legal communities. While the scientific community acquires knowledge of the functioning of estuarine systems, lawyers must begin to include them within the legal framework of water systems protection before they are lost entirely. Estuaries are seldom covered by the existing international law of water courses or the law of the sea. In some cases they are explicitly removed; in others they appear to be covered in theory, but are not in reality. The needs of estuaries must be considered and their protection must be ensured under international law so that these critical zones are not lost forever.

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