International Law of the Sea and exploitation of the seabed in a socio-economic perspective

Abstract

Under International Law of the Sea framewordk, this scientific paper outlined, as a general objective, to investigate the legal and
socioeconomic aspects arising from the economic exploitation of the seabed, tracing two specific objectives: (I) To analyze the development of the
international legal-exploratory regime of the seabed ; (II) Understand the implementation of an economic model capable of meeting the equitable
sharing of benefits derived from the exploration of the seabed in a socioeconomic perspective. Using the analytical-normative research method and the exploratory-bibliographic research technique, it was verified that the international legal and environmental regime of the Area,
instituted by UNCLOS, in its Part XI, by the 1994 Agreement and by the Regulations and Rules of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), is
progressively effective in defining the norms and rules that outline the implementation of a socioeconomic model capable of meeting the equitable sharing of economic benefits derived from the exploitation of the seabed, between developed and developing States . It was concluded that there is a global trend of intense economic exploration of the seabed foreseen for the coming decades. Considering the depletion of terrestrial deposits of minerals, the Area and its mineral resources are normatively considered
as common heritage of humanity, bringing, this economic exploitation, substantive socioeconomic impacts to States and humanity.