Shifting Limits? Sea Level Rise and Options to Secure Maritime Jurisdictional Claims

Among the many threats posed by sea-level rise is the potential impact of this phenomen on the extent of the maritime jurisdictional claims of coastal States. This paper provides a brief discussion of sea-level rise, before examining ways in which the maritime claims of coastal States may be impacted by rising sea levels. In particular, the traditional dependence on normal low-water baselines as the usual starting point for measuring maritime claims is problematic given the likely retreat of normal baselines inland as sealevels rise. This paper discusses options to address these challenges and outlines issues arising from the potential total inundation of a given State’s territory.

I. Introduction

II. Rising Waters

III. Baselines and the Limits of Claims to Maritime Jurisdiction

1. Ambulatory Baselines and Shifting Maritime Limits

2. Impacts on Insular Status

3. Implications

IV. Options to Counter the Threat of Sea Level Rise to Maritime Claims

1. (Un)Natural Equilibrium

2. Building Castles in the Sand?

3. Legal Fixes

a. Fixing Normal Baselines

b. Fixed Limits?

V. Wiped Off the Map?

VI. Concluding Thoughts

Copyright:	© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH - CCLR
Quelle:	Issue 4/2009 (Dezember 2009)
Seiten:	12
Preis:	€ 30,00
Autor:	Dr. Clive Schofield

Artikel weiterleiten	Artikel kaufen und anzeigen	Artikel kommentieren

Diese Fachartikel könnten Sie auch interessieren:

Höchste Priorität für den Umweltschutz bei der Polarforschung
© Vieweg+Teubner Verlag (1/2010)
Interview mit Dipl.-Ing. Dietrich Enss

The Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty Alleviation: Managing the Risks
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH - CCLR (12/2009)
This paper will consider the distributional impact of climate change on developed and developing countries and, in particular, flag the potential for climate change policies to negate development objectives for the poorest countries. Developing countries, such as China, India, Brazil and Mexico, are essential participants to the success of any global campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is in this context that future policies involving both mitigation and adaptive strategies must incorporate measures to assist with alleviating poverty and thus enhance the ability of developing countries address broader sustainability issues. The article concludes with some suggestions for managing the risks through institutional reform.

Across the Top of the World? Emerging Arctic Navigational Opportunities and Arctic Governance
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH - CCLR (12/2009)
The Arctic Ocean has witnessed dramatic thinning and melting of sea ice cover as a consequence of climate change in recent years. This has led to increasing access to and thus activities in the Arctic region, including with regard to shipping. Arctic navigational opportunities are examined and it is concluded that there are a number of major obstacles to Arctic routes transforming the pathways of global trade, at least in the immediate future. The likely future opening up of Arctic sea lanes does, however, provide a focal point for increasing external interest in the region and for changes in oceans governance.

Ocean Acidification: A Litmus Test for International Law
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH - CCLR (12/2009)
International environmental law has developed in a mostly sectoral and ad hoc manner. Regimes have been devised to address specific global or regional environmental problems, such as particular sources and types of transboundary pollution, rather than to promote transboundary environmental governance in a holistic and integrated manner. As a consequence there is today an array of international environmental regimes but a lack of coordination among them, and many regimes operate independently, and sometimes even inconsistently, in relation to each another.

Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change
© Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH - CCLR (12/2009)
There is now a general consensus that global warming is real and that one of the factors forcing climate change is the anthropogenic addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The implications of climate change for ecosystems are, however, not yet entirely understood. As the oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface and play a major role in the global carbon cycle, it is important to understand how a changing climate will affect the biota not only of terrestrial systems, but also of the marine environment.