Environmental Aspects of the Fixed Link Project Across the Strait of Gibraltar

Presented at the Seminar on Legal Aspects of the Europe-Africa Fixed Link Project across the Strait of Gibraltar (Madrid, December 1986), this report examines the environmental dimension of a project of unprecedented geopolitical, technical, and legal magnitude, whose impacts on the marine environment of the Strait remain largely understudied. The author notes that while feasibility studies have engaged significant scientific and technical resources, the ecological dimension has received only marginal attention, despite potentially considerable and irreversible impacts on the Strait's hydrodynamics, sedimentary flows, benthic and pelagic ecosystems, and marine species migration routes. The legal analysis examines Spain's and Morocco's international obligations regarding environmental impact assessment of major maritime works under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, regional Mediterranean marine environment protection conventions (Barcelona), and customary international law on transboundary damage prevention. The author concludes that the Fixed Link Project cannot legally be envisaged without rigorous environmental assessment, permanent impact monitoring, and a bilateral Spanish-Moroccan conventional arrangement guaranteeing environmental liability and the remediation of any ecological damage.