Revision of UNCLOS is best regime for Arctic Governance from Mon, 07/28/2014 - 00:06
UNCLOS represents the consensus of decades of debate on how best to govern shared ocean resources and to handle disputes over border conflicts. The Arctic nations have settled on UNCLOS, adopting it in their laws and subsequent agreements, and it forms the basis for governance of the Arctic region.
Quicktabs: Arguments
Although some policy officials and scholars argue countries should abandon UNCLOS and implement a new legal regime,207 such action would undermine the effectiveness of the existing legal norms provided by UNCLOS. Abandoning UNCLOS would only weaken current international Arctic law, create economic uncertainty, and pose potential security issues.208 "Is it Time for the United States to Join the Law of the Sea Convention." Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce. Vol. 41, No. 2 (April 2010): 151-166. [ More (9 quotes) ] In addition, the formulation, adoption, and implementation of new international Arctic legislation would, at best, be a difficult, if not impossible, process.209 Considering the enormous economic wealth at stake, coupled with the political power of today's oil, abandoning UNCLOS might erroneously be interpreted by some as encouraging military solutions to Arctic territorial disputes.
While it may be peculiar that geologic structures might dictate ownership of resources,n269 Russia has obtained a competitive edge by operating persistently and adhering to the provisions of the Convention. Most importantly, other Arctic States have seen the writing on the wall. Aware of the undeniable progress Russia has made, the other littoral countries have been stirred from their casual observance of UNCLOS within the Arctic, and have undertaken new cartographic datagathering expeditions to claim as much territory as they can under the parameters of the Convention.n270 In fact, following Russia's 2001 submission, eight other countries began work on filing their own CLCS submissions under UNCLOS.
For example, Canada recently changed the nature of its Arctic claims to conform to UNCLOS procedure, by departing from simple reaffirmations of past assertions of sovereignty and instead beginning work on a continental shelf proposal due for submission in 2013.n272 Even the United States participated in a joint seabedmapping mission in the Beaufort Sea last month, a region widely considered the "top prize in the Arctic oil rush."