I would be interested in hearing colleagues' thought in response to the
enquiry below. My understanding is that states _would_ be obliged to
pull back their maritime limits if relevant basepoints became
submerged - but have any states which are vulnerable to sea-level rise
attempted to argue that they should be allowed to retain their existing
limits under such circumstances?
Regards,
m a r t i n
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 28 August 2001 04:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: sea level change and UNCLOS
I gave a workshop on the Law of the Sea and AGSO - Geoscience
Australia's role in Australia's UN submission to some senior teachers at
a conference in Melbourne recently and the matter of sea level change
was hotly debated. Questions were asked about the implications of future
sea level changes to the location of maritime boundaries around
coastal states and the impact of sea level change to submissions on
extended continental margins that extend beyond EEZs. I would love to be
able to pass on some useful information to these teachers.
Although predicted sea level changes are relatively minor, I would think
that countries with very flat, low-lying coastal areas would be most
affected by increasing sea levels because their land area would decrease
as the territorial baseline moved inland. Would the size of the island's
surrounding EEZ also decrease or is the location of a country's EEZ
boundary
(and other territorial boundaries eg. territorial baseline, territorial
sea, contiguous zone etc) 'locked in' at the time of signing UNCLOS and
remains unchanged, no matter what happens to future sea levels and the
location of its coastline?
Also, what happens to coastal states that are composed of small islands
if one or more of those islands goes underwater (as is the risk in the
Pacific and, perhaps, the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea). Does
the EEZ stay as it was before the inundation or does the EEZ shrink
accordingly? (an aside - what happens to coastal states that extend
their coastline
artificially far out into the ocean eg. in Japan?).
With regard to the extended continental margin, is there pressure for
countries to submit the technical data that defines the outer limit of
their outer margin prior to sea level changes? I know they have 10
years from the date of signing UNCLOS but maybe they are under more
pressure due to sea level changes. Or maybe I am completely on the wrong
track. I've checked the Law of the Sea documentation and many other
sources and can't seem to find
any reference to the matter of sea level change.
Any advice that you can give would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks
Cindy
********************************************************************
Cindy Hann
Education Officer
Communications Unit
AGSO - Geoscience Australia
cnr. Jerrabomberra Ave. and Hindmarsh Dve
Symonston ACT
G.P.O. Box 378
Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
ph: (02) 6249 9673
fax: (02) 6249 9977
AGSO - Geoscience Australia
ABN 80 091 799 039
AGSO Website: www.agso.gov.au
********************************************************************
==================================
Martin Pratt
Research Officer
International Boundaries Research Unit
Mountjoy Research Centre, Suite 3P
University of Durham
Durham DH1 3UR
United Kingdom
+44 (0)191 374 7704 (direct line)
+44 (0)191 374 7702 (fax)
[log in to unmask] (email)
http://www-ibru.dur.ac.uk (World Wide Web)
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