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Legal Protection of the Marine Environment from Vessel-Source Oil Pollution: Progress and Challenges in Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2021

Pascal Kany Prud'ome Gamassa
Pascal Kany Prud'ome Gamassa*
Affiliation:
Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, China
*
gamassa_kany@yahoo.fr
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Abstract

The United Republic of Tanzania, also called Tanzania, is a country composed of Mainland Tanzania and the islands of Zanzibar. Tanzania's domestic laws promote sustainable development of the marine environment; however, since the beginning of the 21st century, the country has been importing large quantities of oil, resulting in an increased risk of vessel-source oil pollution damage. Through a comparative analysis, this article examines the laws addressing this issue in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, the progress that has been made in the legal environment and the challenges that remain, and it discusses possible solutions and improvements. The article reveals that weak implementation of domestic laws for marine environment conservation, a lack of harmonization between domestic laws regarding this issue, and weak domestication of relevant ratified international conventions are among the challenges currently hindering the sustainability of Tanzania's marine environment.

Keywords

Marine environmentvessel-sourceoil pollutionTanzaniasustainable development
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 123 - 149
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

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Footnotes

*

PhD, Postdoctoral researcher, School of Law, Dalian Maritime University, China.

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