• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.135-150
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• 2010

At the Intergovernmental Meeting held in 1972, the London Convention was adopted to prevent marine pollution from dumping of wastes and other matter. After that, at the special meeting held at the Headquarters of the International Maritime Organization in 1996, the London Convention was revised to consider advances in technology of treatment and disposal of wastes and to reflect changes in understanding of marine environment and then the London Protocol was concluded. The London Protocol states more concrete management system for ocean dumping than the London Convention and also provides that the Meeting of Contracting Parties shall establish those procedures and mechanisms necessary to assess and promote compliance with the Protocol. With the London Protocol in force since 24 March 2006, the Meeting of Contracting Parties adopted the 'Compliance Procedures and Mechanisms (CPM) pursuant to Article 11 of the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention 1972' and established the Compliance Group in 2007. According to the CPM, members of the Compliance Group shall be nominated by Contracting Parties, based on equitable and balanced geographic representation of the five Regional Groups of the United Nations, and elected by the Meeting of Contracting Parties. In 2009, the Republic of Korea nominated a member of the Compliance Group to be subsequently elected by the Meeting of Contracting Parties with the approval of other states in Asia Group. Through the United Nations Regional Group System based on geographical identity or political affinity, Contracting Parties to the London Protocol are expected to form a voting bloc or to exchange information in meetings on the London Protocol. In this sense, it is noteworthy that the London Protocol introduced marine environmental management system for comprehensive prohibition of ocean dumping with exception of the so-called 'reverse-list' which had been earlier adopted by the 'Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic, 1992 (OSPAR)' whose contracting parties belonged to Western European and Other States Group. In recent years, the jurisdiction of London Protocol has been extended to protect and preserve the marine environment from all sources of pollution. This will make the United Nations Regional Group System play more important roles in the activities associated with the London Protocol. For this reason, this article has considered characteristics of the United Nations Regional Group System and has analyzed influences of this Regional Group System in meetings on the London Protocol. This could provide preliminary information for the Republic of Korea to give due consideration to the United Nations Regional Group System on the activities associated with the London Protocol.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_1
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• pp.447-460
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• 2022

It is well known that satellite synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) has been widely used for the observation of surface displacement owing to earthquakes, volcanoes, and subsidence very precisely. In wetlands where vegetation exists on the surface of the water, it is possible to create a water level change map with high spatial resolution over a wide area using the InSAR technique. Currently, a number of imaging radar satellites are in operation, and most of them support a ScanSAR mode observation to gather information over a large area at once. The Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM) wetland, located in northern Colombia, is a vast wetland developed along the Caribbean coast. The CGSM wetlands face serious environmental threats from human activities such as reclamation for agricultural uses and residential purposes as well as natural causes such as sea level rise owing to climate change. Various restoration and protection plans have been conducted to conserve these invaluable environments in recognition of the ecological importance of the CGSM wetlands. Monitoring of water level changes in wetland is very important resources to understand the hydrologic characteristics and the in-situ water level gauge stations are usually utilized to measure the water level. Although it can provide very good temporal resolution of water level information, it is limited to fully understand flow pattern owing to its very coarse spatial resolution. In this study, we evaluate the L-band ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 ScanSAR mode to observe the water level change over the wide wetland area using the radar interferometric technique. In order to assess the quality of the interferometric product in the aspect of spatial resolution and coherence, we also utilized ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 stripmap high-resolution mode observations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.987-994
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• 2021

The Yellow sea, as described in article 123 of UNCLOS, is semi-enclosed sea surrounded by the Republic of Korea, the People's Republic of China and North Korea. In addition, the Yellow Sea is one of the 66 large marine ecosystems as it contains large amounts of marine resources. According to article 194 of UNCLOS, states should be aware of rights and duties with respect to the protection and preservation of the marine environment to be engaged with countries directly as regional entity or indirectly. Therefore, the legal blank is urgent in terms of trans-boundary environmental pollutant issues. The UNDP has conducted a project called Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (YSLME) which has reached the 2^nd phase. The project has some notable achievements, namely performing joint activities on analysis of diagnostic trans-boundary issues in collaboration with China and South Korea, developing a strategic action plan based on TDA, and establishing regional strategic action plan. However, on the other hand, the project could not reflect the full participation of North Korea as a state party. As a result, the project has a limitation on effective implementation of RSAP. Therefore, this study focuses on the suggestion of a legally-binding trilateral treaty as a blue print for the next, 3^rd phase of the project. By analyzing the best practice of the Wadden Sea Trilateral Treaty case, the study verifies the validity of legislative measures on establishing and managing a legally-binding trilateral YSLME Commission. By suggesting a three phase treaty, incorporating a joint declaration by establishing the commission, the signing of the treaty, and formulating an umbrella convention and implementation arrangement, the study expects to guarantee the consistency and sustainability of the trilateral treaty regardless of political issues pertaining to North Korea.