| Summary: | The main purpose of this thesis is to examine marine environmental protection in the Arctic. This objective has been achieved by analyzing pertinent legal instruments on the global, regional and national level. The regional cooperation of the Arctic states has also been examined, as it is of paramount importance to the effectiveness of marine environmental protection in the Arctic. However, in order to present a comprehensive account of the shape of the marine environmental protection in the region, it was also necessary to include an analysis of the Arctic legal regime as a whole. The review of the Arctic legal regime utilizes international law as a means to explain how specific issue areas in the Arctic has shaped the legal development, eventually resulting in a regime focused on environmental issues. Furthermore, the specific marine environmental issue of land-based marine pollution is given a more in-depth look, as it presents one of the greatest challenges for the purposes of legal regulation and is a major factor contributing to marine pollution in the region. As the Arctic region is dominated by its maritime areas, the future shape of marine environmental protection in the region is inextricably linked to the underlying shape of the entire legal regime in the Arctic. Thus, the future of Arctic marine environmental protection and, in extension, the entire Arctic legal regime, is also examined. This is done in the context of a hypothetical discussion in which the arguments for a treaty-based solution and a soft law, regional cooperation is given. The Arctic is an ocean surrounded by continents, and the law of the sea has thus acted as a natural focus for the legal development in the region. The fragile nature of the Arctic marine environment makes it extremely vulnerable to the impacts of human activity, and the mounting interest in the natural resources of the region are creating new management challenges for the Arctic states. One major source of marine pollution in the Arctic stems from land-based ...
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