An Analysis of the South China Sea Arbitral Award between the Philippines and China through the Lens of International Environmental Law

Abstract

On 12 July 2016, the Arbitral Tribunal rendered its Award to settle the dispute between the Philippines and China in the matter of the South China Sea. In its very long Award, there are environmental elements to this case, such as the obligation to protect and preserve marine environment, the obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment and due diligence obligations. Geographically, the South China Sea encompasses an area of several ASEAN member States which have very high marine biodiversity and abundance. Thus, the Award would certainly have an impact on the marine environmental governance of the ASEAN region as a whole although the case was merely between two States. This paper aims to explore the lessons that can be learnt from this case. It was found that there are various ways to implement the Award so as to achieve better marine environmental protection in this region.