Maritime Boundary Research Articles

Invalidity of a fraud's treaty within the implications for the maritime boundary negotiations between Australia and Timor-Leste

Invalidity of a fraud's treaty within the implications for the maritime boundary negotiations between Australia and Timor-Leste

COOPERATION BETWEEN INDONESIA AND THE PHILIPPINES IN MARITIME AFFAIRS RELATED TO EEZ (EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE) BASED ON THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA OF 1982 OR UNCLOS

The determination of Indonesia's marine areas such as territorial sea boundaries, EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) boundaries and LK boundaries between Indonesia and neighboring countries is based on international law, one of which is UNCLOS 1982. Indonesia and the Philippines realize that it is important to determine the maritime boundaries of the two countries. The steps to determine maritime boundaries between Indonesia and the Philippines have been discussed since 1994, in a meeting between Senior Officials Regarding the Determination of Maritime Boundaries between Indonesia and the Philippines. Record of Discussions the First Senior Officials Meeting on the Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary Between Indonesia and the Philippines, Manado, 23–25 June 1994, At first the Philippines based on the Treaty of Paris in 1898, described its maritime territory in the form of a box by including Miangas Island into Philippine territory, but this method was not in accordance with the 1982 UNCLOS used by Indonesia as the basis for withdrawal maritime boundary line. This is done by the Philippines considering that territorial boundaries including the determination of its Exclusive Economic Zone are regulated in the Constitution of the country that adopted the provisions in the Treaty of Paris. However, it was only in December 2003 that it began to be realized in the form of a bilateral cooperation framework in the Joint Permanent Working Group on Maritime and Ocean Concerns (JPWGMOC). The International Agreement regarding the establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone is one of Indonesia's steps to realize its goal as a prosperous maritime country, because this agreement is a space to formulate a National Ocean Development Policy.

Resolving Maritime Delimitation Disputes by Agreement: The Danish–Polish Boundary in the Area of the Island of Bornholm

The extension of coastal states’ jurisdiction over seas in the twentieth century significantly increased the maritime area of overlapping entitlements. The Baltic Sea is a textbook example of such competing claims. In principle, the two main avenues for a coastal state to resolve its dispute are to either conclude a delimitation agreement or lodge the case with an international court or tribunal. This article analyzes the Delimitation Agreement between Denmark and Poland concerning the Baltic Sea south of the island of Bornholm. The states were divided as to how to apportion the maritime zone of 3,500 km2, where the economic zones of Denmark and Poland had not been delimited for several dozen years. The agreed single maritime boundary split the disputed area into unequal parts. The settlement of the maritime dispute coincided temporally with Poland and Denmark’s plans to build a natural gas pipeline at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, which probably prompted the two states to put an end to their maritime boundary dispute. The law of the sea provides that the delimitation of maritime zones between states with opposite or adjacent coasts is effected by agreement on the basis of international law in order to achieve an equitable solution. The purpose of this article is to show that (energy) security issues may prompt a resolution of a maritime boundary dispute, and to analyze the Polish–Danish Agreement in the light of the principles governing the maritime delimitation.

Legal Certainty and Stability in the Face of Sea Level Rise: Trends in the Development of State Practice and International Law Scholarship on Maritime Limits and Boundaries

Abstract This article identifies and documents a trend in State practice over the past decade or so, regarding the impact of sea level rise on the lawfully determined limits of maritime zones and the existing maritime boundaries. It juxtaposes this development with the findings and recommendations of two committees of the International Law Association in 2012 and 2018 – the Committees on Baselines and Sea Level Rise – and examines the role played since 2019 by the International Law Commission. It explores the implications of emerging State practice for the interpretation of the rules and principles of the 1982 UN Law of the Sea Convention. It documents the complex interactions between the findings of international law scholarship and the evolution of State practice, and concludes that this interaction has played an important role in facilitating legal certainty and stability in the development of a response to this increasingly pressing international law issue.

The Method for Delimiting the Maritime Boundary in the Internal Waters Between Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province and the Coastal Provinces of Vietnam

The study is based on the legislative documents and the locality's management situation, which propose defining maritime boundaries in the internal waters of the Baria-Vung Tau coastal province of Vietnam. Defining the boundary is a legal document that serves as a foundation for local administrative management as well as a document that supports relevant policies, such as clearly defining the scope of objects operating in local waters. This is also a document for local governments to use as a foundation for marine resource management, determining the extent of marine space for planning purposes, and allocating a portion to organizations and individuals to use and exploit by Vietnamese government regulations. The national topographic map of the VN2000 system established by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has been adjusted and supplemented with the latest data used to build the plan. The determination of maritime boundaries has been technicalized and applied in many countries. All methods are based on the fairness principle, which two sides can agree to and accept. The results provide technical solutions to define maritime boundaries based on coastal morphological characteristics, management situation, and legal documents of the State of Vietnam.

Life cycle of stratocumulus clouds over 1 year at the coast of the Atacama Desert

Abstract. Marine stratocumulus clouds of the eastern Pacific play an essential role in the earth's energy and radiation budget. Parts of these clouds off the western coast of South America form the major source of water to the hyperarid Atacama Desert coastal region at the northern coast of Chile. For the first time, a full year of vertical structure observations of the coastal stratocumulus and their environment is presented and analyzed. Installed at Iquique Airport in northern Chile in 2018/2019, three state-of-the-art remote sensing instruments provide vertical profiles of cloud macro- and micro-physical properties, wind, turbulence, and temperature as well as integrated values of water vapor and liquid water. Distinct diurnal and seasonal patterns of the stratocumulus life cycle are observed. Embedded in a land–sea circulation with a superimposed southerly wind component, maximum cloud occurrence and vertical extent occur at night but minima at local noon. Nighttime clouds are maintained by cloud-top cooling, whereas afternoon clouds reappear within a convective boundary layer driven through local moisture advection from the Pacific. During the night, these clouds finally re-connect to the maritime clouds in the upper branch of the land–sea circulation. The diurnal cycle is much more pronounced in austral winter, with lower, thicker, and more abundant (5×) clouds than in summer. This can be associated with different sea surface temperature (SST) gradients in summer and winter, leading to a stable or neutral stratification of the maritime boundary layer at the coast of the Atacama Desert in Iquique.

The Beaufort Sea Boundary Dispute: A Consideration of Rights of Inuit in Canada and the United States

Canada and the United States are involved in a long-standing dispute concerning the maritime boundary of the Beaufort Sea, located north of Canada and the State of Alaska. With rising global temperatures and the resulting interest in the potential newly accessible resources in the Beaufort Sea, there is increased political pressure to resolve the dispute within the next few years. A likely resolution of this dispute is that the two countries “agree to disagree” and enter into various co-management agreements governing the Beaufort Sea region. This article maintains that if an “agreement to disagree” is reached between Canada and the US regarding the Beaufort Sea boundary dispute and the result is various joint management of the region governing the protection and exploitation of its natural resources, then Inuit in Canada and the US have a right to negotiate such agreements as affected parties. This article considers the rights and entitlements of Inuit in Canada and the US to meaningfully participate in international negotiations regarding agreements governing the Beaufort Sea and its resources. This article analyzes the comparative legal rights of Inuit in Canada and US to share in the Beaufort Sea’s resources, protection, and management. The author discusses the relevant land claim agreements and legislative schemes, common law and constitutional rights in judicial precedents, international legal norms, and policy arguments that support Inuit communities’ right to sit at the table with Canada and the US to negotiate international agreements to resolve this dispute. The Arctic, including the Beaufort Sea, is the home of Inuit, and they possess legal rights to participate in shaping Arctic governance policy.

Transparency and Predictability in the Maritime Delimitation Process: Reverse-engineering the Somalia-Kenya Adjudicated Boundary

Abstract This article analyses the adjudicated boundary between Somalia and Kenya in the Indian Ocean through an integrated law-and-science approach. Using recent high-resolution satellite imagery and specialised boundary software, it seeks to ‘reverse-engineer’ the 12 October 2021 ruling of the International Court of Justice with a particular focus on issues of transparency and predictability. The article highlights how ambiguities in the identification of basepoints underlying an adjudicated boundary and the reliance on a relatively small-scale nautical chart based on dated surveys that does not reflect the physical reality of the relevant coast could undermine the authority of an adjudicated boundary obtained after years of legal proceedings. Addressing the issue of technical support in decision-making on adjudicated boundaries, the article proposes various means to reduce controversies regarding maritime boundary delimitation and to make the delimitation process more transparent and predictable.

Rising Seas and Uncertainties: Establishing Static Maritime Borders to Ensure Equity in the Face of Sea Level Rise

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1994, establishes international maritime boundaries that are measured from the “normal baseline” where the ocean meets the coast. However, UNCLOS does not account for changes in the normal baseline that are expected to occur as a result of climate change-induced sea level rise. These uncertainties leave room for maritime territorial disputes that threaten the political and economic resources of small island developing states (SIDS) and developing coastal nations. Here, we discuss the impacts of sea level rise on maritime boundaries with a focus on equity for SIDS and developing coastal nations. These nations, though they contribute the least to climate change, experience its effects most drastically and are the least equipped to adapt. To safeguard against the inequities that are expected to result from rising sea levels, we recommend a science-informed, diplomatic effort to address this issue: that the International Maritime Organization introduce an international convention to establish static maritime baselines. This approach would freeze maritime boundaries, allowing all island and coastal nations to retain their existing oceanic zones and entitlements. Establishing a static baselines promises to mitigate the disproportionate effects of climate change on SIDS and represents a necessary step in the push for international equity in the face of climate change.

Evidence for Secondary Ice Production in Southern Ocean Maritime Boundary Layer Clouds

AbstractMaritime boundary‐layer clouds over the Southern Ocean (SO) have a large shortwave radiative effect. Yet, climate models have difficulties in representing these clouds and, especially, their phase in this observationally sparse region. This study aims to increase the knowledge of SO cloud phase by presenting in‐situ cloud microphysical observations from the Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation, Aerosol, Transport Experimental Study (SOCRATES). We investigate the occurrence of ice in summertime marine stratocumulus and cumulus clouds in the temperature range between 6 and −25°C. Our observations show that in ice‐containing clouds, maximum ice number concentrations of up to several hundreds per liter were found. The observed ice crystal concentrations were on average one to two orders of magnitude higher than the simultaneously measured ice nucleating particle (INP) concentrations in the temperature range below −10°C and up to five orders of magnitude higher than estimated INP concentrations in the temperature range above −10°C. These results highlight the importance of secondary ice production (SIP) in SO summertime marine boundary‐layer clouds. Evidence for rime splintering was found in the Hallett‐Mossop (HM) temperature range but the exact SIP mechanism active at lower temperatures remains unclear. Finally, instrument simulators were used to assess simulated co‐located cloud ice concentrations and the role of modeled HM rime‐splintering. We found that CAM6 is deficient in simulating number concentrations across the HM temperature range with little sensitivity to the model HM process, which is inconsistent with the aforementioned observational evidence of highly active SIP processes in SO low‐level clouds.

Making Maritime Boundaries in the Bay of Bengal

This essay explores the making of maritime boundaries in the Bay of Bengal in the northern Indian Ocean, emphasizing the role of visualizations in establishing states' jurisdictional claims to unstable coasts and ephemeral islands. These include colonial-era revenue surveys of the Sunderbans, sketches of land formation in the Godavari delta appended to case papers in litigations, nautical charts and inspection reports of the seabed in the Gulf of Mannar, maps drawn at the time of partitioning the subcontinent in South Asia and satellite imagery of the Bay's littoral. These visualizations are the everyday materials that delineate sea space in law, as judges, lawyers and states navigate fluidity and fixity, accuracy and equity in international law.

Dispute Settlement in the Law of the Sea: Survey for 2021

Abstract This is the latest in a series of annual surveys in this Journal reviewing dispute settlement in the law of the sea, both under Part XV of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and outside the framework of the Convention. The most significant developments during 2021 were a judgment of a Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea finding that it had jurisdiction to delimit a maritime boundary between Mauritius and the Maldives and a judgment of the International Court of Justice delimiting the maritime boundary between Somalia and Kenya.

Peranan Indonesia Dalam Mewujudkan Keamanan Maritim Di Kawasan Asean

United Nation Convention Law of The Sea (UNCLOS 1982) regulates maritime boundaries, rights and obligations of coastal states, and maritime security. This article aims to find out about how the role of Indonesia to realize maritime security in ASEAN areas. Maritime security is one of the important things that must be created in ASEAN, because this region is dominated by oceans. Indonesia as the largest archipolegic caountry in ASEAN have a role to create maritime security. This paper is to find out how is ASEAN policies in creating maritime security in the ASEAN and to find out what is the role of Indonesia to realizing maritime security in the ASEAN. The method used in this article is the normative method so that this assessment will provide an explanation of Indonesia’s role in realizing maritime security in the ASEAN, either by initiating international forum, or participating in existing maritime international forum, and make regulations for their own country, because Indonesia is one of the counties with largest number of crime at sea in ASEAN.

THE CONCEPT OF EQUIDISTANT PRINCIPLE TO DELIMITATE CONTINENTAL SHELF ZONE

Since along time the Arabian Gulf region has witnessed competition on it, whether by the major dominated countries, or by the riparian countries on the Gulf itself. The reasons of competence may be political, economic, military, or legal to determine the international water borders of its countries. The special boundary problem is the limitation of the continental shelf among Iraq, Kuwait and Iran, where the maritime areas are still not well defined. These states are still not done any agreement between them concerned the water borders. From the point of international law the rights of these States depend on the subject of the natural extension of international sovereignty on the waters of the territorial sea and continental shelf. The continental shelf area Acquires major importance in various subjects such political, economic, strategic and military. These subjects led to a conflict of interest among the coastal States, depending on their geographical situation. So that this situation led to different legal points of view on how to limit the borders among these states. The right of sovereignty, and its natural extension and how to limit the maritime areas that include the seabed and its outer space may also be one of the reasons that hinder the process of defining the maritime boundary between Iraq, Kuwait and Iran. In fact there are different criteria for limitation of the boundaries of the continental shelf defined by the Law of the Sea 1982, including the nature of the area, or the distance required to determine them. However, the difficulty lies in the process of delimiting the continental shelf between neighboring States that do not have good faith in reaching the delimitation of the continental shelf. The Convention has Explained how to delimitate the boundaries of the continental shelf adjacent to the territories of two neighboring States through agreement between them, or through the process of applying the equidistant principle, or midline from base points defined to delimitate the territorial sea.

정책 네트워크로서의 한중해양협력

This study sheds light on what forms have been developed to institutionalized collaboration over both governments over the maritime boundaries between Korea and China, private maritime cooperation, and the policy network. The focus of this study is to analyze the governments and the main areas and actors of the cooperation of private organizations through the concept of the policy network and suggests the policy measures for the association. Specifically, the process of discussion or policy implementation related to the maritime cooperation between Korea and China led to the following results. First, the maritime cooperation between Korea and China has been promoted by regular conferences and accords between both governments. The discussion of the maritime cooperation between both countries has been diversified in areas and objects, such as regular conferences for the maritime boundaries, and the debate being prompted for the maritime business, science, technologies, nature, and environmental cooperation. Second, the various associates not only the central government but also non-government and private organizations have attempted to seek marine cooperation. According to the private marine organizations, they established marine cooperation comprehensively through long-term joint research and interactions between researchers. This is because private cooperation including the governments has prompted multilateral cooperation and manifested the specific outcomes in the marine science-technology. In other words, this study argues that it is needed to establish a mid-to-long-term and comprehensive maritime government, noting that the areas and actors in marine cooperation in government and private organizations are diversified.

Between defeating “the warlord” and defending “the blue homeland”: a discourse of legitimacy and security in Turkey’s Libya policy

This article seeks to explain Turkey’s critical engagement in the partially internationalised conflict in Libya by relying on a discourse analysis of Turkish political elites. Drawing on thematic discourse analysis, the authors argue that these elites utilise, in the way in which they communicate to the external audience (the international community), a discourse of legitimacy by which they lend political support for the UN-recognised government, and declare the General Khalifa Haftar-led forces, its opponents, as illegitimate. Secondly, Turkish foreign policy elites express their commitment to preserving national security interests in the Mediterranean, thereby justifying Turkish involvement in the conflict via a security-laden discourse addressed to the internal audience (the local constituents). Legal disputes, regarding the delimitation of maritime boundaries has served as the basis for Turkey’s rapprochement with the Government of the National Accord (GNA), led by Fayez al-Sarraj, and its staunch opposition to the Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Haftar since the web of intricate relations in the region relevant to such disputes requires the conclusion of bilateral agreements between the governments.

First record of Clorida latreillei (Stomatopoda: Squillidae) from Bangladesh, with an annotated checklist of the Bangladeshi stomatopods

The study represents a stomatopod crustacean, Clorida latreillei Eydoux & Souleyet, 1842 reported for the first time in Bangladesh. This new record was revealed through a cursory expedition to the Sundarbans mangrove coast. Photos of the collected specimen, diagnostic characteristics, and comments on the distribution are provided in this paper. Based on peer-reviewed literature, the article also provides the first annotated checklist of stomatopods of Bangladesh. Given the extent of the country’s maritime boundary and associated diverse habitats, stomatopods, commonly known as mantis shrimps, appear to be an understudied group as only eight species under two families are so far listed.

Russia and the United States in the Arctic: from Competition to Confrontation

The rivalry of great powers for hegemony and influence that has unfolded in the modern multipolar world is increasingly evident in the Arctic, a strategically important region of the world and exceptionally rich in natural resources. Тhe attractiveness of the Arctic and the competition of great powers around it are growing due to the objective changes taking place in the Far North in four important areas (technology, economy, climate, and law), contributing to the economic development of the region. The clash of interests, primarily between the United States and Russia, is leading to an increase in military and political tension, turning the once abandoned peripheral region of the Far North into a zone of increased information, as well as political, and, most importantly, military activity of the superpowers. This article analyzes the increased popularity of the Arctic topic in the foreign policy of the United States and Russia, which is associated with climate warming, the accelerated melting of glaciers in the Arctic, the prospect of opening new sea routes, and the growing activity of the Arctic and other states, primarily China, in the region. Against the background of recent international events related to the Arctic, the Arctic direction of the foreign policy of Washington, Moscow, and Beijing is considered. The emphasis is placed on its military‒political component, given that the growing political tension in the Arctic can lead to a new generation of armed conflicts and exacerbate the situation not only in the Northern region but also in the international arena as a whole. The situation is aggravated by the fact that there are no recognized norms of international law in the Arctic regarding the Arctic states’ ownership of concrete vast sectors of the Arctic Ocean and islands in its aquatic area. The delimitation of maritime boundaries and the determination of rights to economic activities here remain the main problem. Political tension is growing.

Hardly predictable and yet an equitable solution: Delimitation by judicial process as an option for Greece and Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean

AbstractThis article addresses the dispute between Greece and Turkey concerning the reach of their sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, which is essentially about delimitation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Turkey has delineated its continental shelf in the region to extend directly to the outer limits of the territorial waters of the Greek islands, specifically Crete, Rhodes, and Kastellorizo. Greece sees this as an attempt to deprive the islands of their maritime zones. The present article discusses what the two states might expect if they would request the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to determine the course of their maritime boundaries. The outcome of such a process would be difficult to foresee because international case law regarding the effect of islands on the delimitation of the continental shelf and EEZ is rather diffuse. Nevertheless, this article will explore what an equitable solution could look like. In particular, the small island of Kastellorizo, Greece’s most remote outpost in the Eastern Mediterranean, which lies just off the Turkish coast, requires special consideration. The present article discusses different options for dealing with this island in a future delimitation.

APPRAISAL ON MARITIME BOUNDARY DELIMITATION BY BANGLADESH AND NORWAY

This study analyses the maritime claims and maritime boundaries of Bangladesh and the Kingdom of Norway (Norway), including mainland Norway, the Svalbard archipelago, and the island of Jan Mayen. The object of this study is to explore the maritime boundary delimitation process followed by Bangladesh and Norway and to find out similarities between both countries in such delimitation. It is qualitative research. In identifying and interpreting data both primary and secondary sources are considered. Primary sources include international treaties, agreements, statutes, case decisions etc. whereas, secondary sources include books, journal articles, and reports of national and international organizations etc. Findings of the study reveal that there is a similarity in the maritime claims of both the countries. Both Bangladesh and Norway claimed straight baselines, 12 nautical mile territorial sea, 24 nautical mile contiguous zone, 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. They have also completed maritime boundary settlement with all the neighbours.