The North Pole Seabed Nature Reserve as a Provisional Arrangement
2012 ◽
Vol 27
(1)
◽
pp. 97-133
Keyword(s):
Abstract That the geographic North Pole is the Arctic Schelling point, is implicit in the Russian submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. I assess this premise vis-à-vis three other approaches to the outer continental shelf delimitation in the Arctic Ocean—the median-line method; a joint submission; and an international zone around the North Pole—and show that both the premise and the alternatives have limitations. Then I explain how an agreement between the Arctic Ocean states (the A5) to establish a seabed nature reserve north of 88°20´N and within 100 nm from the 2,500-meter isobath overcomes those limitations and what positive direct and indirect effects may come from it.