The extended continental shelf: A geographical perspective of the implementation of article 76 of UNCLOS

The delimitation of the outer edge of the continental margin beyond 200 nautical miles is paving the way for areas where States exercise rights of sovereignty to be extended when their geographical locations with respect to the continental margin allows it. Sixty-one submissions and forty-five preliminary reports, involving a total of ninety-one States (submitted to 31.07.2001), enable some of the geopolitical consequences to be outlined. Amongst those that can be highlighted are sometimes substantial changes in States' territorial bases and economic potential, and the global balance between national and international jurisdictions. This article uses regional and global scale maps based on national reports deposited with the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to present the main geographical and geopolitical findings. The geographical analysis similarly enables a quantitative estimation to be made of the effects of jurisdictional expansion on the “global commons”, of insularity and of the territorial gains made by the States concerned.

► The delimitation of the outer edge of the continental shelf is paving the way for territorial changes both at national and global scales.
► Jurisdictional claims include geographical areas that had traditionally not subject to high pressures of occupation and exploitation (polar caps) in detriment of global commons.
► Emergence of new maritime scenarios as a result of displacement of geostrategic center of gravity to sea basins.