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ADRIANE COLBURN

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
By Betsy Baker

The world has a set of rules about how to use the oceans: the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Most nations have signed and ratified the treaty and even those that have not – for example, the United States – abide by the vast majority of its rules. The LOS Convention spells out the rights and duties all countries have with respect to navigational rights, ocean environmental protection, allocation of fishing rights, the use of living and non-living resources of the ocean, marine scientific research, piracy, and how to settle disputes arising between countries about matters governed by the treaty. Every coastal nation has greatest jurisdiction over the waters closest to its shores or “territorial sea”. This jurisdiction diminishes as one travels through several zones away from shore to the High Seas. It also reserves an “Area” under the High Seas not subject to any country’s jurisdiction but considered to be the responsibility and resource of all, or “the common heritage of mankind.”

The LOS Convention’s rules about the ocean’s non-living resources (think: “oil and gas”) lie at the heart of the current flurry of scientific activity by all five Arctic countries – Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the US – to map the Arctic Ocean. Article 77 of the Convention gives every coastal state the exclusive sovereign right to “explore and exploit” the living and non-living resources of the seabed and subsoil within a certain area that the treaty calls “the continental shelf”. This part of the treaty is concerned only with what is on or under the ocean floor; a separate part of the treaty deals with living marine resources that dwell in the water column.

Every coastal nation has these exclusive rights automatically for the seabed and subsoil that lie within 200 nautical miles of its territorial sea baseline. But beyond that, a country must provide scientific evidence showing just how far its continental shelf extends past that 200 nm line. The evidence must show that the “shelf” is a natural prolongation of the country’s continental landmass, and identify where the shelf descends to meet the ocean floor. There are limits on how far beyond the 200 nm line a country can extend its jurisdiction (350 nm from shore or 100 nm beyond where the water is 2500 m deep). These limits protect the common heritage “Area” from being taken up entirely by national claims.

The United States is the only arctic country, and indeed one of the very few countries in the world, that has failed to ratify the LOS Convention. Without ratifying, the US cannot submit its scientific findings to the treaty’s commission of geophysicists and hydrographers that reviews all continental shelf submissions. A small handful of senators opposed to the UN have blocked ratification in the past, notwithstanding widespread support for the Convention from all branches of the military, environmental groups and industry interests. Both Presidents Bush supported the treaty, as does the current administration. The LOS Convention is the best hope for international cooperation towards sustainable, safe, and equitable use of the world’s oceans.

Betsy Baker, Associate Professor, Vermont Law School http://arctic-healy-baker-2008.blogspot.com/