This book is based on a doctoral thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor iuris at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bern.
The faculty accepted this work as a doctoral thesis on 28 May 2020 at the request of the two reviewers, Prof. Emer. Thomas Cottier and Prof. Emer. Alan Boyle.
I express my deepest gratitude to my husband for his loving attention and inexhaustible patience, as well as my parents, whole family and close friends for their continued support and care. I owe particular gratitude to my supervisors Thomas Cottier and Alan Boyle, who guided, advised and inspired me during my dissertation. I would also like to thank my esteemed colleagues at the Universities of Zurich and Berne and especially at the World Trade Institute for the enriching academic and social exchange, as well as the staff for their support and encouragement. Particular thanks go to Zaker Ahmad, Iryna Bogdanova, Lucia Satragno, Alexander Beyleveld, Rosa Maria Losada, Elisabeth Bürgi Bonanomi, Joëlle de Sépibus, †Rachel Liechti-McKee, Isabel Kölliker, Gabriela Thut-Wermelinger, Rosemarie Coeppicus, Yvonne Peter, Margrit Vetter, Monika Scherler, Sandra Joseph, Melanie Mettler, Susan Kaplan, Morven McLean, Susan Plattner, Dannie Jost, Christian Haeberli, Chrisitan Steiger, Wulfhard Stahl, Franz Perrez, Jin Millea, Christine Kreis, Shaheeza Lalani, Karolis Gudas, Hojjat Khademi, Beatrice Nybert, Clarence Sibiza, Tilman Dralle, Maria Anna Corvaglia, Laura Marschner, Christine Kaufmann, Ilaria Espa, Rodrigo Polanco, Fitzgerald Temmerman, Kateryna Holzer, Sascha Finger, Simona Weber, Sebastien Duyck, Brigitta Imeli, Andrea Schläpfer and Christiane Erkoreka-Fürst. I would like to thank Peter Tobias Stoll, Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer, Duncan French and Oisin Suttle for their valuable feedback.
Further thanks go to Edinburgh Law School, especially James Harrison, Jürg De Pietro from the Plastics Training and Technology Center katz, and also Christian Rytka from the Institute of Polymer Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. I am also grateful for the thematic exchange within the UN Environment Advisory Group on Marine Litter and the Massive Open Online Course on Marine Litter. Harald Reichenbach, Chris Jordan, Ferdi Rizkiyanto and many other artists deserve my thanks for the inspiration they have given me through their artistic engagement with marine plastic pollution.
The finalization of this thesis would not have been possible without the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation and my team and superiors at
I dedicate this work to Ronijah, Iri, Johnny and Kalif, who are my strictest and yet mildest teachers, who made me work on myself more than anyone else, who were first and foremost entitled to the time I invested in this book, who opened up a world to me.