[Levin]

MON, DECEMBER 25, 2023 - 04:29



The United States has expanded its claims to the resource-rich ocean floor and continental shelf in the Arctic, which is twice the size of California. In this way, Washington is trying to preserve mineral reserves that are crucial for the development of future technologies

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The so-called "extended continental shelf" covers about 1 million square kilometers (386,100 square miles), mostly in the Arctic and Bering Sea, a strategic area also claimed by Canada and Russia. In addition, the United States has outlined shelf boundaries in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico.

The long-awaited decision marked the outer limits of the U.S. continental shelf, the country's land territory under the sea. Under international law, countries have economic rights to natural resources on and below the seabed within their continental shelves.

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The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which the United States has not yet ratified, regulates maritime zones around countries. According to the document, countries have the right to any resources in the sea or on the seabed within their so-called exclusive economic zones, which can extend up to 200 nautical miles from the coast.

In addition, countries may claim economic rights to resources on or below the seabed where their continental shelf extends, although not within the water column. The seas above them also remain international waters.

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Rebecca Pincus, director of the Polar Institute at the Wilson Center, noted that the decision to unilaterally delineate the boundaries of its continental shelf, instead of ratifying UNCLOS and then applying, could cause acute dissatisfaction among other countries.


https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/usa-expa...68207.html