Chapter 9
The Environmental Dimension
of the “Brazilian Blue Amazon”:
Environmental Rights and Duties
on the Continental Shelf
The ‘Blue Amazon’ is not intended to create a sort of dispute with the Green Amazon. [...]
What we intend is to draw attention of the Brazilian society to another immense area for
which we also have an obligation to care, and which deserves similar concern, given its
strategic and economic importance.
1
—Roberto de Guimarães Carvalho
Up to now, this work has raised questions ranging from the possibility of legally
delineating the outer limits of the continental shelf, to the legal conflicts which may
arise from the extension of a coastal state’s marine environmental jurisdiction over
the seafloor. To states delineating their outer continental shelves, an extended
maritime area implies not only prospects of wealth and enlarged sovereign rights,
but also increased responsibilities over those areas. A reasonable next step, in line
with the original research plan, is to scrutinize a particular state’s legal and institutional framework in place for the management of the maritime spaces under national
jurisdiction. That state is Brazil, and the maritime zones under examination are the
domestically labelled “Brazilian Blue Amazon”, with stark emphasis on the continental shelf within and beyond 200 nm.
Hence, this part is dedicated to analyzing Brazilian domestic substantial and
procedural obligations concerning the management and conservation of the marine
environment in face of continental shelf activities. The main goal of which is to
assess (i) the domestic legislative framework’s consistency with international law,
and (ii) the country’s legal and institutional preparedness to conduct a sustainable
exploration and exploitation of natural resources of the seabed under national
control. In the Brazilian case, despite the absence of disputed maritime areas or
neighboring conflicts, it is unequivocal that the expansion of the continental shelf
1 “A Amazônia Azul não tem como propósito criar uma espécie de disputa com a Amazônia verde
[. . .] O que pretendemos é chamar a atenção da sociedade brasileira para uma outra imensa área pela
qual também temos obrigação de zelar e que deveria merecer os mesmos cuidados e preocupações,
tal a sua importância estratégica e econômica”. Roberto de Guimarães Carvalho, ‘A “Amazônia
Azul”’, Folha de São Paulo (São Paulo, 11 May 2005), section Debates. Free translation.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
V. Alencar Mayer Feitosa Ventura, Environmental Jurisdiction in the Law of the Sea,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50543-1_9
247
The Environmental Dimension
of the “Brazilian Blue Amazon”:
Environmental Rights and Duties
on the Continental Shelf
The ‘Blue Amazon’ is not intended to create a sort of dispute with the Green Amazon. [...]
What we intend is to draw attention of the Brazilian society to another immense area for
which we also have an obligation to care, and which deserves similar concern, given its
strategic and economic importance.
1
—Roberto de Guimarães Carvalho
Up to now, this work has raised questions ranging from the possibility of legally
delineating the outer limits of the continental shelf, to the legal conflicts which may
arise from the extension of a coastal state’s marine environmental jurisdiction over
the seafloor. To states delineating their outer continental shelves, an extended
maritime area implies not only prospects of wealth and enlarged sovereign rights,
but also increased responsibilities over those areas. A reasonable next step, in line
with the original research plan, is to scrutinize a particular state’s legal and institutional framework in place for the management of the maritime spaces under national
jurisdiction. That state is Brazil, and the maritime zones under examination are the
domestically labelled “Brazilian Blue Amazon”, with stark emphasis on the continental shelf within and beyond 200 nm.
Hence, this part is dedicated to analyzing Brazilian domestic substantial and
procedural obligations concerning the management and conservation of the marine
environment in face of continental shelf activities. The main goal of which is to
assess (i) the domestic legislative framework’s consistency with international law,
and (ii) the country’s legal and institutional preparedness to conduct a sustainable
exploration and exploitation of natural resources of the seabed under national
control. In the Brazilian case, despite the absence of disputed maritime areas or
neighboring conflicts, it is unequivocal that the expansion of the continental shelf
1 “A Amazônia Azul não tem como propósito criar uma espécie de disputa com a Amazônia verde
[. . .] O que pretendemos é chamar a atenção da sociedade brasileira para uma outra imensa área pela
qual também temos obrigação de zelar e que deveria merecer os mesmos cuidados e preocupações,
tal a sua importância estratégica e econômica”. Roberto de Guimarães Carvalho, ‘A “Amazônia
Azul”’, Folha de São Paulo (São Paulo, 11 May 2005), section Debates. Free translation.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
V. Alencar Mayer Feitosa Ventura, Environmental Jurisdiction in the Law of the Sea,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50543-1_9
247