미세플라스틱에 의한 해양오염의 규율을 위한 국제적 대응방안에 대한 검토: 국제법을 통한 규범적 접근을 중심으로

Marine debris creates serious environmental, health and economic problems for the marine ecosystem. In addition, it raises many domestic and international legal issues because it can be caused by various land and sea origins within and outside the national jurisdiction. In this regard, marine pollution, especially plastics, has reached a serious level today. As plastics are found in marine ecosystems, various studies have been conducted to understand the effects on food chains and the healthy ecosystem, the most important of which is microplastic contamination of marine and freshwater ecosystems. The microplastic problem has many different aspects from the general plastic problem, which requires the renewed efforts of the international community to solve it. More specifically, in the case of marine pollution caused by microplastics, it is necessary to remove the damage from microplastics to the marine ecosystem, minimize the impact, and fundamentally take measures to consider alternatives to plastics. However, the reality is that the political will and sense of urgency for solving the problem are not enough. In addition, in light of the supranational nature of the marine microplastic issues, it is necessary to have effective governance that enables the participation of various stakeholders at the international level. At the same time, it is also necessary to study whether international law-based approaches is possible for effective problem solving in view of the fact that microplastic pollution originates from land and it is under the national jurisdiction. Against such backdrop, today, it is urgently required to prepare a new international legal regime to cope with these problems. For this purpose, this paper evaluates the efforts of the international community that are currently under way at various levels to regulate marine microplastic pollution. It also reviews the current status of the application of the international environmental laws and regulations for microplastic pollution issues. Furthermore, as an alternative to the current international environmental law system, it briefly studies the feasibility of concluding a new comprehensive treaty to establish the international legal regime centered on regulating, monitoring the production and consumption of plastics and facilitating cooperations among countries.