Abstract: The stability of maritime sovereignty arrangements is increasingly in question as rising sea levels exacerbate the extent and speed at which coastlines are shifting. Despite the import of offshore resource concessions and the widespread awareness of, albeit less systemic, sources of geographic instability, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is silent as to whether the baselines from which maritime zones are measured are ambulatory. Several authors have called for permanently fixing maritime limits. This paper first proposes that any such analysis must contemplate the inherent stability of boundary agreements that largely govern contested zones. Both the travaux preparatoires of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the limited writings of international tribunals support the exception of maritime boundaries from treaty termination by operation of law due to a fundamental change in circumstances. This paper then questions the merit of proposals to fix limits in light of the implications for third state rights under the pacta tertiis doctrine, examining several paradigms for coastline shifts. Most critically, international straits may expand, presumably generating zones with complete freedom of navigation for all foreign ships.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-07-09
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 11
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