Feminism, nature and the post-human: through a critical analysis of the international law of the sea governing marine living resources management

The depletion of marine living resources and the need for their conservation are among the most pressing tasks faced by international law of the sea. While the failure to properly manage marine living resources may be due to States’ lack of will to take appropriate conservation measures, structural limitations of existing rules of international law and conceptual narratives about nature foster harmful and unsustainable behaviours. This chapter builds on feminist post-humanism to unpack disciplinary assumptions about nature that underpin international law, and offers a critical analysis of the legal system surrounding marine living resource management. The chapter argues that international law of the sea is structured in a way that systematically reinforces patters of environmental degradation, for its genealogy rests on the concepts of anthropocentrism, androcentrism and epistemological mechanisms of exclusion whereby certain humans and the natural ecosystem are systematically disadvantaged. The chapter discusses the legal foundations of the law of the sea framework and analyses the most relevant international instruments and integrative approaches governing marine living resources management. In relation to the latter, the chapter queries whether the ecosystem approach could aptly represent a trope for a posthumanist manifesto in the international law of the sea.