'REMOTE SENSING AND MARITIME POLLUTION: INTEGRATED PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN OIL COMPANIES AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES. THE NIGER DELTA CASE STUDY.'

摘要

The Niger Delta, due to the high frequency of maritime traffic connected to the significant oil business of the region and industrial activities, among which irregular refineries have a leading role in compromising the local environment and in powering the black market of energy and unlawful practice of commerce and piracy, is facing a substantial decrease in security levels. Thus, it is a perfect case study. Piracy and oil pollution are threatening both the coastline and the sea. They should therefore be seen as a security threat to be addressed by setting an integrated framework connecting maritime pollution data and vessel traffic monitoring systems through a stronger partnership between oil companies in the Niger Delta and local authorities. The purpose should be to elaborate a kind of vessel traffic management and information system (VTMIS) by imitating the Ghanaian government's idea, implemented for countering piracy and assessing the threat posed by maritime pollution, as the dual use could be easily achieved by a remote sensing observation. The paper will investigate the legal possibilities of connecting oil companies' data and efforts within the Niger Delta's authorities intelligence on piracy in a common valuable framework as a basis for aware action. The paper will also set an accurate analysis of the interconnected praxis examples to wonder whether an implementation of the strategy could find a common source of inspiration in the legal application of the MARPOL Convention.