A Study on Existing Soft Law for Marine Plastic and Suggestions for New Plastic Convention

The oceans, which cover approximately two-thirds of the planet, are home to hundreds of millions of species of organisms, absorb carbon dioxide, and play a crucial role in mitigating climate change. In addition, the sea provides marine resources in terms of human economy and industry and plays an important role in trade. As such, the ocean, which has a very close relationship with our lives, is being destroyed by waste. 8 million pieces of debris enter the ocean every day, and a variety of marine life is directly affected by being entangled in or ingesting the waste. To respond to marine plastics that negatively affect the marine environment, the international community has agreed to enact a legally binding international treaty that directly regulates marine plastics. This can be argued to be very positive for the marine environment, which is becoming increasingly serious due to marine plastic. Protection of the marine environment from land-based source of marine pollution has been developed in the form of soft law for centuries. This soft law will certainly have implications for the newly enacted marine plastic treaty. Therefore, this study examines the contents of soft law through doctrinal legal research, and will suggest the provisions that should be included in new international treaty.