Bay of Bengal. Copyright: joiseyshowaa (Creative Commons - flickr)
Commonwealth to assist Bangladesh in claiming additional areas of seabed
29 April 2010
A successful submission to the United Nations will secure exclusive rights and access to potentially lucrative natural resources
The People's Republic of Bangladesh will become the latest country to receive assistance from the Commonwealth Secretariat in preparing a claim to the United Nations for additional areas of seabed, known as continental shelf under international law.
To date, the Secretariat has helped 14 countries to lodge submissions for additional areas of continental shelf covering, in total, over two million square kilometres of seabed.
In order to claim additional areas, Bangladesh must make a submission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
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)
By making a submission, this rapidly developing 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 legal and technical advice to support the Government in its work to prepare, present and defend the submission.
“The preparation of a continental shelf submission is a major undertaking requiring 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.
He added: “Securing rights to additional areas of continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal and potentially significant seabed resources may in the future prove critical to the sustainable development of Bangladesh, where there is already a huge demand for limited resources from a rapidly increasing population.”
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 159 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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