Under a 1982 UN convention, the Law of the Sea, a nation may claim an exclusive economic zone over the continental shelf abutting its shores.
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Reacting to news that Russia has submitted a claim to the seabed around the North Pole, Greenpeace Russia Arctic campaigner Vladimir Chuprov said: “The melting of the Arctic ice is uncovering a new and vulnerable sea, but countries like Russia and Norway want to turn it into the next Saudi Arabia”.
Canada has not yet wrapped up its final claim to areas of the Arctic Ocean now considered worldwide waters, although it is rumoured that Ottawa’s submission will include 1.7 million square kilometres of ocean, including the North Pole. The foreign ministry said this time around it has “ample scientific data collected in years of scientific research”.
Within the paperwork submitted to the United Nations on Monday, Russia argues that the undersea territory it seeks so as to add to its acknowledged borders does not fall underneath the 350-mile restrict as a result of the seabed and its assets are “pure elements of the continent”, the Russian Overseas Ministry stated in a press release.
As global warming causes the Arctic ice cap to melt, more of the previously unchartered territory has become accessible.
At a Russian government-sponsored Arctic development conference in Moscow in January, scientists and economists disclosed their projections that the sea shelf being pursued contains 90 percent of Russia’s remaining nickel, cobalt and platinum, 60 percent of copper, and practically all of the country’s explored reserves of titanium, tin and barite. They point to a recent worldwide accord to ban commercial trawling in the area as the better way forward in the far north.
The ministry said the resubmitted bid contains new arguments.
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Of these three shelves, the Siberian Shelf is the largest continental shelf in the world. The country has requested that the UN recognize the claim, which it first made in 2002. The ministry said it expected a decision by autumn.
