27th August 2008



The BBC has reported, August 27th, that Britain will present a continental shelf claim for the region surrounding its overseas territory, Ascension Island.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), coastal states automatically have rights to seabed areas reaching up to 200 nautical miles from the shore. Britain contends that Acension’s continental shelf extends beyond 200 miles and is making the claim accordingly.

This is not the only area of seabed to which Britain has laid claim in recent years. In 2006 a joint claim with France, Spain and the Irish Republic was made for the continental shelf in a region of the bay of Biscay, and Britain is also currently negotiating with Iceland, Ireland and Denmark to make a joint claim for a region in the Hattan-Rockall area of the North East Atlantic.

There has also been interest in British Antarctic Territory. Although the Foreign Office has stressed that there has been no official claim made, Britain has still reserved the right to make a claim in future, and this statement in itself has proved controversial, with environmentalists condemning what they term the “new colonialism”. Although the territory has been safeguarded against mineral exploitation by the 1991 Antarctic Treaty, the NGO Greenpeace has voiced its concern over the potential damage to fragile oceanic ecosystems that may result from countries racing to claim ownership of previously untouched areas.

The potential political conflicts which are likely to arise from counter claims are apparent from examining the issues surrounding Britain’s bid for the areas surrounding the Falkland Islands, the sovereignty of which is still contested with Argentina.

According to the BBC, within hours of the details of a British claim being released, it received a statement from Argentine officials, declaring that they are “preparing their own counter-claim”.