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12 Asia Pac. J. Envtl. L. 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/apjel12 and id is 1 raw text is: Editorial
Ocean Acidification: Addressing the other CO2 Problem
Meridith Simons and Tim Stephens*
Introduction
International environmental law has tended to develop in a highly sectoral fashion.
Regimes have been spawned to address specific environmental problems, such as
particular sources and types of pollution, rather than to address environmental
governance in a holistic and integrated manner having regard to the reality of
ecological interdependence.1 As a consequence there is today not only a surfeit of
environmental regimes but also a scarcity of coordination, as many regimes operate
largely independently, and sometimes even inconsistently, with one another.2
In this respect the problem of ocean acidification, the changing chemistry of the
oceans as a result of the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere,
presents an interesting case study of the difficulties faced in addressing new cross-
cutting environmental challenges effectively and expeditiously in an era of
environmental regime complexity. In this Editorial we sketch the nature of the ocean
acidification governance problem, both in terms of its pathology as an
environmental threat and the legal and political challenges faced in effectively
averting it.
* Meredith Simons is an LLB student at the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, Australia. Dr Tim Stephens
BA (Hons) Syd LLB (Hons) Syd M.Phil Cantab PhD Syd is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University
of Sydney and Co-Eclitor in Chief of the Asia Pacific Journal of International Law. The authors express their
gratitude for the financial support provided by the Legal Studies Scholarship Fund for research on the
governance challenges implicated in the regulation of ocean acidification. Parts of this Editorial Were
presented in a paper given by Tim Stephens at a Public Seminar at the Australian National University's
Centre for International and Public Law on 3 April 2009.
1 See generally Tim Stephens, International Courts and Environmental Protection (2009) at 1 -16.
2 See Rticliger Wolfrum & Nele Matz, Conflicts in International Environmental Law (2003).
ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, VOL 12, ISSUE I
0 Australian Centre for Climate and Environmental Law 2009
1

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