study of a single case which draws on observational data and promises to shed light
on a larger population of cases”.
5 The Brazilian Blue Amazon case comprises the
phenomena that the argument seeks to make, the argument that without a domestic
legal and institutional framework consistent with international law (namely
UNCLOS and the CBD), the expansion of the continental shelf may reinforce
suspicions against the detrimental effects of an enhanced territorial temptation of
coastal broad-margin states.
It is a highly focused research, which has chosen depth over breadth. It scrutinizes
the Brazilian domestic legal and policy framework on marine environmental protection of the continental shelf, but seeks to serve as a platform for understanding
domestic constraints to effective marine governance and regulation, which may be
shared by other developing and developed coastal countries, thus making it possible
to resort to this study and its conclusions into a larger context. The research is
observational, “an observational form of analysis”, aimed at a “causal inference”. In
this sense, the research is predominantly empirical, drawing on the theoretical
ground built in previous chapters, as well as in the below-explained mixture of
political agendas, laws, action plans and governmental programs—those are the
fundamental primary documents which feed the analyses made herein. Incidentally,
this part will be informed by cross-case comparisons, to add credibility to the
research, e.g. marine rules and institutional arrangements held in Portugal.
Still on the methodological page, one must justify the option for a specific case in
a case study research, i.e., why Brazil and its Blue Amazon. Despite claims within
Brazil that the country has never experimented an “economic maritime era”,
6 Brazil
has undoubtedly been a major player in international ocean negotiations and
law-making. To start with, reference ought to be done to the country’s participation
in international talks for current binding and non-binding oceanic instruments. Here,
Brazil has been playing a proactive role in shaping the contemporary law of the sea,
particularly in the second half of the twentieth century. The great number of
international maritime treaties and conventions signed and ratified by the Brazilian
state suggests the country’s dedication to the international rule of law applied to
oceans.
Examples of those instruments on the protection of the marine environment
include: the 1946 Convention for the Regulation of Whaling;
7 the 1959 Antarctic
Treaty;
8 the 1966 Convention on the Conservation of Tuna and Related Fish of the
5 Gerring (2017), p. 28. John Gerring calls this sort of highly specialized study a “small-C study”, as
it deals with either one or very few cases.
6 To the East, Brazil had its extremely long coast, the open seas without international straits nor
opposing neighbors. To the West, the vast, unexplored and unoccupied territory, which grounded
fears of territorial losses and sovereignty weakness. Historically, there was no stimulus to navigational adventures, nor the longing for maritime sovereignty. That view is embraced by Soares
(2014), p. 259.
7 Promulgated by Decree no. 73.497, 17 January 1974.
8 Ratified by Brazil on 16 May 1975.
9 The Environmental Dimension of the “Brazilian Blue...
249
on a larger population of cases”.
5 The Brazilian Blue Amazon case comprises the
phenomena that the argument seeks to make, the argument that without a domestic
legal and institutional framework consistent with international law (namely
UNCLOS and the CBD), the expansion of the continental shelf may reinforce
suspicions against the detrimental effects of an enhanced territorial temptation of
coastal broad-margin states.
It is a highly focused research, which has chosen depth over breadth. It scrutinizes
the Brazilian domestic legal and policy framework on marine environmental protection of the continental shelf, but seeks to serve as a platform for understanding
domestic constraints to effective marine governance and regulation, which may be
shared by other developing and developed coastal countries, thus making it possible
to resort to this study and its conclusions into a larger context. The research is
observational, “an observational form of analysis”, aimed at a “causal inference”. In
this sense, the research is predominantly empirical, drawing on the theoretical
ground built in previous chapters, as well as in the below-explained mixture of
political agendas, laws, action plans and governmental programs—those are the
fundamental primary documents which feed the analyses made herein. Incidentally,
this part will be informed by cross-case comparisons, to add credibility to the
research, e.g. marine rules and institutional arrangements held in Portugal.
Still on the methodological page, one must justify the option for a specific case in
a case study research, i.e., why Brazil and its Blue Amazon. Despite claims within
Brazil that the country has never experimented an “economic maritime era”,
6 Brazil
has undoubtedly been a major player in international ocean negotiations and
law-making. To start with, reference ought to be done to the country’s participation
in international talks for current binding and non-binding oceanic instruments. Here,
Brazil has been playing a proactive role in shaping the contemporary law of the sea,
particularly in the second half of the twentieth century. The great number of
international maritime treaties and conventions signed and ratified by the Brazilian
state suggests the country’s dedication to the international rule of law applied to
oceans.
Examples of those instruments on the protection of the marine environment
include: the 1946 Convention for the Regulation of Whaling;
7 the 1959 Antarctic
Treaty;
8 the 1966 Convention on the Conservation of Tuna and Related Fish of the
5 Gerring (2017), p. 28. John Gerring calls this sort of highly specialized study a “small-C study”, as
it deals with either one or very few cases.
6 To the East, Brazil had its extremely long coast, the open seas without international straits nor
opposing neighbors. To the West, the vast, unexplored and unoccupied territory, which grounded
fears of territorial losses and sovereignty weakness. Historically, there was no stimulus to navigational adventures, nor the longing for maritime sovereignty. That view is embraced by Soares
(2014), p. 259.
7 Promulgated by Decree no. 73.497, 17 January 1974.
8 Ratified by Brazil on 16 May 1975.
9 The Environmental Dimension of the “Brazilian Blue...
249