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UNEP Shelf Programme
May 13 2009 was a historic milestone towards the defi-
nition of maritime sovereignty – the deadline for many
states of UNCLOS to deliver their submission for the
extension of their outer continental shelf boundaries.
This was the culmination of many years of work for the
Shelf team and we are delighted that all of the develop-
ing States assisted by GRID-Arendal were able to deliver
their full submissions (32 states) or preliminary submis-
sions (36 states) in time. A comprehensive overview of
this process
Continental Shelf: The Last Maritime Bound-
ary
was published by GRID-Arendal in December 2009.
Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries with
extended deadlines and those still to develop full sub-
missions will continue to receive support from the UNEP
Shelf Programme for a number of years to come.
Global distribution of outer continental shelf
Sources: DOALOS/CLCS
Situation as of 1st May 2010.
Area of outer continental shelf according to the
Executive Summaries of the submissions
Area of outer continental shelf according
to preliminary information
States that lodged preliminary
information but did not disclose the
extent of the area
States that lodged
a submission to the CLCS
Exclusive Economic Zone