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7 Marine environment
7.1 UNEP Shelf Programme
The UNEP Shelf Programme5 continues to be the main
focus of GRID-Arendal’s Marine Programme. Since 2003,
GRID-Arendal has assisted 68 developing countries with
the submissions required to establish the outer limits of
their continental shelves.6 This assistance – the work flow
for which is shown in Figure 1 below – comprises more
than 90% of all the developing states that have submitted,
or are preparing to submit applications to the United
Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
(CLCS). The global map contained in Annex 2 illustrates
the states that have received assistance and the nature of
that assistance, ranging from awareness raising to capacity
building to facilitating data access to GRID-Arendal’s One
Stop Data Shop (OSDS). Since 12 May 2009 (the deadline
for most states to make their initial submissions), the
focus of the UNEP Shelf Programme has been to assist
developing countries in transforming their Preliminary
Information Documents (PIDs) into full submissions.
In close consultation with MoFA, assistance to Africa
is channelled through the Norwegian Continental Shelf
Initiative the guiding principles of which are displayed in
Box 1 below. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate Data
has primary responsibility for data acquisition, while the
Norwegian Mapping Authority provides assistance with
baseline determination. UNEP supports the initiative
with technical and capacity building support through the
UNEP Shelf Programme.
Box 1: Guiding principles of the Norwegian
Continental Shelf Initiative in West Africa
• African ownership to enable states to exercise their
rights to natural resources
• Multilateral cooperation to resolve contentious issues
of maritime delimitation and to achieve higher
efficiency and cost-effectiveness
• Targeted Norwegian technical and financial support
i The West African Regional Desktop Study, completed
in November 2010, provided a foundation for a
regional data acquisition and capacity building
programme. The data acquisition activity currently
underway represents the most comprehensive
morphological and structural research undertaken in the
region to date. Moreover, the programme represents
unprecedented regional cooperation by the six West
African States involved – Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal (see box below).
“In some parts of the world the provisions of UNCLOS
relating to the continental shelf and the exclusive
economic zone have led to new international tensions
due to unresolved issues of maritime delimitation…We
arepleased tosee the interest our initiativehasgenerated
among African coastal States. We are particularly
pleased by the Framework Agreement on Sub-regional
Cooperation on the Establishment of the Outer Limits
of the Continental Shelf beyond 200 Nautical Miles
signed in New York on 21 September 2010 by Cape
Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania
and Senegal and by the Agreement on Technical and
Financial Cooperation which we have signed with the
same six West African coastal States.”
Source: Extracted from African Ownership, African Cooperation,
Norwegian Support, African-Norwegian Cooperation on the
Establishment of the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond
200 Nautical Miles – a lecture by Hans Wilhelm Longva, Ambassadeur
en Mission Spéciale, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
delivered in November 2011 at the Centre for Studies and Strategies,
Ministry of External Relations in Praia, Cape Verde
5.
6.
Figure 1: UNEP Shelf Programme – Work Flow