GGE 2501 mainly focuses on the administration of land and how it’s governed, but land only accounts for 29% of the worlds surface area. The other 71 percent of the earth is covered by fresh water and oceans, so how is it governed and who claims responsibility for it?
As of 1982, the Law of the Sea was created by the UN which acts as an outline for international boundaries in the world’s oceans (NOAA, 2019). Once the Law of the Sea was implemented it essentially divided the oceans into four separate portions which are Territorial Seas, Contiguous Zones, Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and High Seas.
Territorial seas are described as the zone that extends 12 nautical miles from a nation’s shoreline (NOAA, 2019). In this area, governments can exercise complete sovereignty and have full rights to that section.
The contiguous zone extends 24 nautical miles from a nations shore (NOAA, 2019). In the contiguous zone, governments may exercise the control necessary to prevent and punish infringement of customs, fiscal, immigration, cultural heritage or sanitary laws and regulations (NOAA, 2019).
The EEZ is the largest zone where governments can exercise power, which extends to 200 nautical miles from shoreline (NOAA, 2019). This boundary can be further extended if a nation can prove that the continental shelf continues past the shoreline but is limited to 350 nautical miles (United Nations, No Date). The EEZ zone allows a country to express sovereign rights to explore and exploit natural resources while also establishing structures.
Past the outlined zones is the high seas, which are every other portion of the ocean that is not inside a countries EEZ boundary. The high seas waters and airspace are accessible to all countries, excluding activities that are prohibited by international law such as nuclear testing (Churchill, R., 2013). Mineral and natural resource extraction is possible in the high seas, but consultation with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) must first take place (Churchill, R., 2013).
Although the Law of the Sea appears to outline distinct guidelines as to what a nation can and cannot do in oceans, disputes and confusion between nations still exists. Nations who own islands in completely different parts of the world are able to exploit the law of the sea. An example of this would be Norway, which owns a small island south of Africa which allows Norway to claim an EEZ the size of 500,000 squares in a completely different region of the world (Heinrich Boll Stiftung, 2017). Australia is another country that has rights to a very large portion of the sea due to the Kerguelen Plateau that extends 2000 kilometers and gives Australia a EEZ the size of 2.5 million square meters (Heinrich Boll Stiftung, 2017). There are also cases where nations EEZ’s have infringed each other, most occasions they are resolved between countries. If an agreement can’t be reached between nations, then the International Court of Justice can be used to decide solidified boundaries (Churchill, R., 2013).
One of the more recent ocean boundary disputes that has been taking shape is the dispute over the North pole. Due to climate change, the North is starting to break free of ice which is revealing an extensive supply of natural resources and transport routes (Sala, E., 2011). EEZ boundaries will likely be the baseline for ownership over the North as nations debate who has sovereignty. Although with a large economic benefit at stake, new international laws could potentially be forthcoming to decide the fate of the North.
References:
United Nations (No Date). Oceans and the Law of the Sea. United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/oceans-and-law-sea/index.html
Heinrich Boll Stiftung. (2017, June). Ocean Governance. Heinrich Boll Stiftung. Retrieved from https://www.boell.de/en/2017/05/30/ocean-governance-who-owns-ocean
Sala, E. (2011, May). Who Owns the North Pole? National Geographic. Retrieved from https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2011/05/19/who-owns-the-north-pole/
NOAA. (2019, September). U.S. Maritime Limits & Boundaries. NOAA. Retrieved from https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/data/us-maritime-limits-and-boundaries.html#general-information
NOAA. (2019, November). What is the law of the sea? NOAA. Retrieved from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lawofsea.html
Churchill, R. (2013, September). Law of the Sea. Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Law-of-the-Sea
GGE 2501 Land Administration Blog 