The international community should come together to revise the Law of the Sea treaty to take climate change into account as this phenomenon becomes a growing global concern, international maritime law expert David Attard said.
The 1982 treaty, that defined nations' rights and responsibilities in their use of the world's oceans, did not address the legal repercussions of climate change.
Regulating shipping emissions and allocating liability to countries for inaction that had repercussions elsewhere were examples of how the law could tackle climate change, he explained.
Prof. Attard, who also specialises in human rights, had foreseen the climate change challenge in 1988 when his advice spurred the Maltese government to request the United Nations to take action to protect the climate.
This proposal led to the 1992 UN Convention on the Protection of Global Climate and the subsequent 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
"Today, climate change is becoming an important issue in maritime law as oceans are considered to be carbon dioxide sinks and ships are a source of environmental degradation.
"The subject is prevailing in all sectors of the global economy as research shows we're heading for an ecological disaster," he said.
Next month, delegations from over 190 countries will be attending the Copenhagen climate summit, which will attempt to draw up a global climate treaty to replace Kyoto. There is concern that no legally binding treaty will emerge from talks in Copenhagen.
Prof. Attard too is worried that Copenhagen, meant to be the hope for the future, will not produce anything significant. Revising the Law of the Sea could help address climate change.
Another recent phenomenon, not addressed by the treaty, is human trafficking, he added.
"We need to try and put the burden on the state of origin but have to safeguard the rights of desperate human beings who risk their lives at sea."
At the moment, there is an obligation under the law for the captain of a vessel to assist people in distress at sea. But there is no proper international agreement as to which state is then obliged to take them in.
Malta faced this problem earlier this year when a Turkish cargo ship rescued 140 immigrants 40 miles off Lampedusa. Italy argued that, since the migrants were picked up in Malta's search and rescue zone, they should be taken to the island. Malta insisted they should have been taken to the nearest safe port, which was Lampedusa. Italy eventually relented and accepted the migrants.
"These challenges all require legal response strategies... In the case of Malta and Italy we need to provide a codified and written law which would make it very clear what the rights and obligations of the flagged state and the state rendering assistance are," added Prof. Attard, who has advised the government on international legal matters during his career.
This year, Prof. Attard, head of the University of Malta's Department of International Law, celebrated 20 years of his academic career.
To mark this achievement, his colleague and former student Norman Martinez Gutierrez put together a two-volume publication containing a collection of 46 articles about subjects Prof. Attard specialises in, written by academics around the globe.
The first volume published recently is called Serving The Rule Of International Law. The second volume, Serving The Rule Of International Maritime Law, will be published in London next month.