Causa Proxima: The Parameters of Perils of the Sea

This study is carried out with the purpose of examining the questions of causa proxima and perils of the sea, which is one of the most popular and commonly covered marine risks under the contract of marine insurance. A study on the question of perils of the sea alone, without being connected to the question of causa proxima, cannot be completed nor comprehended because these two key areas in marine underwriting are inextricably woven together. This work reveals that the meaning and application of the doctrine causa proxima non remote spectatur (the proxima and not the remote cause must be looked into) are not as easy as they seem to be. There have been contradictions in the meaning of the words "proximate cause", which circumstantially reflects the inconsistency in the approaches adopted by the courts in construing the words Another difficulty has been found in applying the doctrine where no specific guideline has been introduced, by the relevant statutes or from the judicial precedents, on how the doctrine should be enforced. The tracking made on judicial decisions dealing with these questions has shown that the interpretation and the application of causa proxima were dealt on the individual basis by the judges without looking further back. Another revelation by this work is on the parameters of the term "perils of the sea", which had become unclear due to the two detected problems i.e. the inconclusive meaning of perils of the sea and the indefinite extent of perils enumerating the term. This work has been carried out with the commitment and determination to solve the above unresolved problems. The study conducted was carried out with the purpose of finding the best solutions to those problems coupled with the hope to provide clearer and more definitive answers to them. This paper is laid down in five chapters. The first chapter deals with Introduction, which speaks of marine briefly on the contract insurance as well as on the problem statement and methodology of the study. The second chapter comprises of two main areas; the first one deals with the doctrine of causa proxima, it's meaning and application while the second area deals with perils of the sea and the exclusions for the purpose of looking into the meaning of perils of the sea and it's boundary.Under Chapter Three and Four, a review and analysis of the problems, which are extracted from numerous cases and opinion of various scholars, are revealed that are hoped to provide clearer, if not definite, answers to problems stated in chapter one. Under the third chapter, the meaning and application of causa proxima are once again dealt with while the fourth chapter, by exposing the reviewed meaning of the expression "perils of the sea" as well as listing down the established perils enumerating the range of perils of the sea and the limits to such range, explicitly divulges with clearer parameters of the expression. The final chapter comprises of two main parts; the summary deals with the problems detected and the findings to those problems and the second part, the conclusion, deals with the assessment and analysis founded from the study conducte

Conserving Local Knowledge In Traditional Healing Through Knowledge Transfer

Local knowledge (LK) basically refers to the knowledge that people in a given community have developed over time, and continues to develop, through practices and based on experiences. Local beliefs pertaining to ilmu, a central concept in Malay culture that refers to knowledge, is essential among the traditional healers. The vast repository of knowledge and its relevance to locality and local situation makes the conservation of LK a necessity.However, due to the dominance of modern knowledge, diminished inter-generational knowledge transfer has led to LK being threatened with extinction. The fact that LK is practiced by only a few these days could be due to lack of knowledge transfer to the younger generations from the traditional healers who are knowledgeable in the communities. The common transfer mode of local knowledge, usually via words of mouth, may not be sustainable because the LK could vanish when knowledgeable elders die before it is transferred or during resettlements of individuals or communities. The need to conserve LK through knowledge transfer is also pertinent for the continued sustenance of their culture by recognizing, protecting and enforcing the rights of local communities to have continued access to biological resources as well as by protecting their LK, acquired over thousand of years of experimentation and experience, about the uses of these biological resources in traditional healing. Therefore, it is important to have a governance framework to effectively protect this LK of the local communities for the continued sustenance of their culture. This conceptual paper attempts to highlight the significance of conserving LK in traditional healing via effective knowledge transfer method, which should thereafter be translated into a working governance framework that protects the knowledge as well as the holders of such knowledge

Simulation and analysis of sea-level change from tide gauge station by using artificial neural network models

Sea level change is one of the most certain results of global warming. Sea level change would increase erosion in coastal areas, result in intrusion into water supplies, inundate coastal marshes and other important habitats, and make the coastal property more vulnerable to erosion and flooding. This situation coincides with the massive socio-economic development of the coastal city areas. The coastal areas of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia are vulnerable to sea-level change, flooding, and extreme erosion events. The monthly Mean Sea Level (MSL) change was simulated by using two Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models, Feed Forward- Neural Network (FF-NN) and Nonlinear Autoregressive Exogenous- Neural Network (NARX-NN) models. Both models did well in recreating sea levels and their fluctuating patterns, according to the data. The NARX-NN model with architecture (5-6-1) and four lag options, on the other hand, got the greatest results. The findings of the model’s mean sea level rise simulation show that Kuala Terengganu would have a growing and upward trend of roughly 25.34 mm/year. This paper shows that the eastern coast of Malaysia is highly vulnerable to sea-level rise and therefore, requires sustainable adaptation policies and plans to manage the potential impacts. It recommends that various policies, which enable areas to be occupied for longer before the eventual retreat, could be adapted to accommodate vulnerable settlements on the eastern coast of Malaysia

Assessment of governance and ecological status of Terengganu Marine Park, Malaysia: toward marine spatial planning

Terengganu Marine Parks (TMP) is a 591.37 km2 marine protected area. TMP are popular tourist destinations that significantly generate revenue to the government and local businesses through tourism sector. However, the anthropogenic activities have contributed to TMP’s declining ecosystem health, particularly the coral reefs. Therefore, a sustainable ecosystem-based management is required to maintain the ecosystem. In this study, we identify issues related to the marine park’s governance, development on islands, tourist activities and coral health status in the TMP for assessing potential management strategy for conserving the ecosystem. The findings on management in TMP found that there is an overlapping in managing the marine park between the federal and state government. Unintegrated development to accommodate rising number of tourist and their activities in the marine parks are identified as the factors contributing towards degradation of the ecosystems. Relatively, reef areas close to these local pressures are in ‘poor’ condition, indicating that threats arising from the activities affecting the marine ecosystem. Hence, this study analyses the potentials in adopting Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) in the TMP for managing the conflict between user and the ecosystem. The Australian Great Barrier Reef Marine Park which applied the zoning of marine area is used as a benchmark to examine the best practices of MSP to govern the TMP. At present, we suggest using coral reef health status as an early alternative and best practice to provide different zoning criteria for strategic marine protected area (MPA) management for TMP

Protection of the Associated Traditional Knowledge on Genetic Resources: Beyond the Nagoya Protocol

AbstractOne of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources. It addresses traditional knowledge of the indigenous or local communities associated with genetic resources with provisions on access, benefit-sharing (ABS) and compliance, as enshrined under Article 8(j) and Article 15 of CBD. The 2010 Nagoya Protocol is a supplementary agreement to CBD by providing a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of ABS, which is a cornerstone of CBD. To ensure its success, the Nagoya Protocol requires effective implementation of ABS measures at the domestic level to provide for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources, which is crucial for mega bio diverse countries like Malaysia, with the contracting party providing such genetic resources. This study embarked to examine the obligations set by the Nagoya Protocol on the parties to CBD to implement ABS by taking legislative, administrative and policy (LAP) measures at the domestic level. The findings reveal the core obligations laid down by the Nagoya Protocol for its contracting parties to take appropriate LAP measures to protect traditional knowledge and to sustainably manage and use their biodiversity

Replacing the transit passage regime with freedom of navigation in the Strait of Malacca: a case study with special reference to the Korea Strait

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (LOSC) prescribes that ships and aircrafts may exercise the unimpeded right of transit passage when navigating or flying over straits used for international navigation. The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are largely categorised as straits that fall under this category. Consistently described as two of the most critical chokepoints in the world, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore are accommodating increasing navigational traffic each year. This has caused difficulties to the littoral States in balancing heavy shipping activities with the protection of the marine environment of these critical straits. This article hence analyse the legal and political implications should the littoral States of the Strait of Malacca, namely Malaysia and Indonesia retract their 12 nautical miles territorial sea claim in the Strait of Malacca to 3 nautical miles, leaving exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or high seas corridor spanning across the Strait, nullifying the application of transit passage regime. At the moment, Japan and South Korea have decided not to extend their territorial claims over the Korea Strait from 3 nautical miles to 12 nautical miles territorial sea limit. As such, this article conducts a specific case study by looking at the arising circumstances should Malaysia and Indonesia follow the Korea Strait approach. This article concludes on whether or not this proposed measure may a viable method to increase the regulatory powers of the littoral States in regulating shipping through the Strait of Malacca

Laws and policy on biodiversity in Malaysia

This paper deals with international regimes on biodiversity impacting Malaysia‘s position as a biodiversity rich country. The Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) recognizes the sovereign rights of states to the exclusive use and control over their biodiversity resources. The CBD too expects access to these resources should be made available to others on mutually agreed terms (MAT) subject to prior informed consent (PIC) and on the basis of benefits sharing (BS). Thus ABS (access and benefit sharing) becomes a cornerstone of an international understanding on equitable sharing of the world resources between the technology rich nations and resource rich nations. Concerns have been raised by some that the ABS mechanism may be subverted by TRIPs patentability requirements. The DOHA Declaration and call by some states for inclusion of CBD into TRIPs including disclosure requirement in patent application under TRIPs are central to the current debates over the CBD-TRIPs interface. The Biosafety aspect of biotechnology essentially covered under the Cartagena Protocol obligates member countries in respect of biosafety. The Malaysia Biosafety Act exemplifies this obligation. All these issues are examined in the context of Malaysia‘s NBSAPS (National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan 1998)

Linking the East and the West: discovering alternatives to the Straits of Malacca and Singapore

Separating the Malay Peninsular and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore form the most convenient route connecting the East and the West. The East Asian economic powerhouses of Japan, China and South Korea rely on these Straits to transport oil from their Middle Eastern suppliers. The emergence of China as one of the world\u27s major economic power has enhanced the usage of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore as important maritime conduits for the Chinese economy