continental shelf to the CLCS; (ii) acting as active formulator of public policies in the
Ministries, Commission or Groups mentioned above; (iii) their consolidated knowledge of the doctrine of international environmental law and law of the sea. All
interviews lasted approximately 50 min. The questionnaire initially envisaged was
adapted to the authorities’ time availability, in order to extract more quality inputs
for the research. Direct contact with the interviewed authorities enabled access to
official documents of different shades, which were of crucial relevance to this work.
Due to confidentiality clauses, the precise content of the interviews is not present
in this book. Yet, the possibility of enquiring high-ranking public authorities of the
Brazilian state that are directly engaged with the management of the country’s Blue
Amazon has granted this study valuable insights and contributed with first-hand
information on that issue in Brazil. The last part of this work relies on the triangulation of the content obtained in those interviews, with the findings reached through
bibliographic revision and the consultation of primary sources.
50 Such triangulation
made it possible for this study to assess the conformity of the official discourse in
Brazil, regarding the country’s jurisdiction over the continental shelf, with current
laws and the actual practice of the state in that regard.
Finally, the investigation counted on an empirical axis as well, namely on the
method of case study. Understood as the “intensive study of a single case which
draws on observational data and promises to shed light on a larger population of
cases”.
51 The case of the Brazilian Blue Amazon offers the possibility to explore the
argument according to which, without a domestic legal and institutional framework
consistent with international law, namely UNCLOS and CBD, the expansion of the
continental shelf may reinforce suspicions against the detrimental effects of an
enhanced territorial temptation of coastal broad-margin states. In short, this part of
the research has chosen depth over breadth by sticking to the study of one country’s
legal marine environmental framework.
1.7 Terminological Notes
Prior to entering into the merits of any discussion, a few terminological notes are
due, so that author and reader share the same meaning of key concepts and possibly
controversial expressions used throughout the work. Firstly, this book mostly refers
to the plural form “coastal states”, while most of the works in the field adopt the
singular version. That should be interpreted as a deliberate, political statement in
favor of treating coastal states as a group, not a singularity, particularly so in light of
the historical strategy of coastal (developing) states to coalize in larger groups, such
50 For more on the methodological technique of triangulating information obtained through field
research, see Flick (2004), p. 178.
51 John Gerring calls this sort of highly specialized study a “small-C study”, as it deals with either
one or very few cases. See Gerring (2017), p. 28.
1.7 Terminological Notes
15
Ministries, Commission or Groups mentioned above; (iii) their consolidated knowledge of the doctrine of international environmental law and law of the sea. All
interviews lasted approximately 50 min. The questionnaire initially envisaged was
adapted to the authorities’ time availability, in order to extract more quality inputs
for the research. Direct contact with the interviewed authorities enabled access to
official documents of different shades, which were of crucial relevance to this work.
Due to confidentiality clauses, the precise content of the interviews is not present
in this book. Yet, the possibility of enquiring high-ranking public authorities of the
Brazilian state that are directly engaged with the management of the country’s Blue
Amazon has granted this study valuable insights and contributed with first-hand
information on that issue in Brazil. The last part of this work relies on the triangulation of the content obtained in those interviews, with the findings reached through
bibliographic revision and the consultation of primary sources.
50 Such triangulation
made it possible for this study to assess the conformity of the official discourse in
Brazil, regarding the country’s jurisdiction over the continental shelf, with current
laws and the actual practice of the state in that regard.
Finally, the investigation counted on an empirical axis as well, namely on the
method of case study. Understood as the “intensive study of a single case which
draws on observational data and promises to shed light on a larger population of
cases”.
51 The case of the Brazilian Blue Amazon offers the possibility to explore the
argument according to which, without a domestic legal and institutional framework
consistent with international law, namely UNCLOS and CBD, the expansion of the
continental shelf may reinforce suspicions against the detrimental effects of an
enhanced territorial temptation of coastal broad-margin states. In short, this part of
the research has chosen depth over breadth by sticking to the study of one country’s
legal marine environmental framework.
1.7 Terminological Notes
Prior to entering into the merits of any discussion, a few terminological notes are
due, so that author and reader share the same meaning of key concepts and possibly
controversial expressions used throughout the work. Firstly, this book mostly refers
to the plural form “coastal states”, while most of the works in the field adopt the
singular version. That should be interpreted as a deliberate, political statement in
favor of treating coastal states as a group, not a singularity, particularly so in light of
the historical strategy of coastal (developing) states to coalize in larger groups, such
50 For more on the methodological technique of triangulating information obtained through field
research, see Flick (2004), p. 178.
51 John Gerring calls this sort of highly specialized study a “small-C study”, as it deals with either
one or very few cases. See Gerring (2017), p. 28.
1.7 Terminological Notes
15