Commonwealth to assist Mozambique in claiming seabed areas
2 November 2009
Successful submission to the United Nations will secure exclusive rights and access to potentially lucrative resources
Mozambique will become the latest country to receive assistance from the Commonwealth Secretariat to prepare a claim for additional areas of seabed.
To date, the Secretariat has helped 14 countries to lodge submissions for additional areas of continental shelf covering, in total, over 1.5 million square kilometres of seabed.
What is a continental shelf?
The continental shelf of a coastal state comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance. (Source: UN)
In order to claim additional areas, Mozambique must make a submission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
By making a submission, the Southern African country will seek to affirm its rights to an extensive area of additional continental shelf and to the important natural and living resources of the seabed. This includes potentially lucrative oil, gas and mineral deposits, as well as living sedentary marine organisms.
The Secretariat’s assistance will take the form of specialised legal and technical advice. “The preparation is a major undertaking which requires that consideration be given to a range of highly specialised legal, scientific and technical issues,” said Joshua Brien, a Legal Adviser and leader of the Secretariat’s Maritime Boundary Programme.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is a multilateral convention that sets out a framework of rules and principles to govern the management of all ocean space. It has been ratified by 157 countries, including 47 Commonwealth member states. Under UNCLOS, a coastal state seeking to claim extended areas of continental shelf beyond the traditional 200 nautical miles limit must make a submission to the Commission.
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