Flag-Planting
| Author | Kristin Bartenstein |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070201006500112 |
| Published date | 01 March 2010 |
| Date | 01 March 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Études Internationales |
| International Journal | Winter 2009-10 | 187 |
Kristin Bartenstein
Flag-planting
What legal framework governs the division
of the Arctic continental shelf?
On 2 August 2007, the Russians planted a titanium flag on the floor of the
Arctic Ocean at the presumed spot of the North Pole. This act of bravado was
an effective public relations gesture that set media worldwide abuzz, and this
for two reasons. First, this scientific and technological exploit, which entailed
not only descending 4200 metres beneath the icecap but also resurfacing at
the precise point of entry, demonstrated Russia’s continued importance in
the scientific world. Second, Russia thereby reminded the world that it was
still a great power, one that intended to defend vociferously its claims in the
Arctic, and to deploy all necessary measures to have those rights recognized
by the international community.
The race for information concerning the Arctic Ocean floor is on.
Indeed, the less- reported aspect of the Russian expedition to the North Pole
is that it is part of a vast program of scientific research on the geology and the
geomorphology of the Arctic seabed. The American government agency for
geological research (US Geological Survey) estimates that the Arctic seabed
Kristin Bartenstein is assistant professor in the faculty of law at the Université Laval,
Québec. The article was first published in Études internationales 39, no. 4 (December
2008), and has been translated for International Journal by Susan Murphy.
ÉTUDES INTERNATIONALES
| 188 | Winter 2009-10 | International Journal |
1 Website of the US Geological Survey, 23 July 2008, www.usgs.gov.
2 Antarctic treaty, 1 December 1959, 402 UNTS 71.
contains as much as 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered hydrocarbon
resources—resources that should become economically exploitable given
an era of looming scarcity of petroleum and natural gas.1 The Russian
Federation, Norway, Denmark, the United States, and of course Canada
have all been busy for several years gathering the information necessary to
buttress their respective claims to the submarine Arctic expanses. Global
warming, which renders the environment potentially less hostile to man
and therefore less resistant to exploitation, increases the value of the claims.
What is the precise nature of these claims? Do they concern the entire
Arctic Ocean floor or only parts of it? What rules will be followed in dividing
up the seabed? The Russian flag-planting has brought these questions to the
foreground—questions that this article will attempt to answer, starting with
a review of the rules concerning the recognition of state competency with
regard to the ocean floor. The article then examines the rules regarding the
geographical limits of state jurisdiction, the problem of overlapping claims,
and problems arising from the fact that the US does not appear to be subject
to the same rules as the other claimant states.
RULES GOVERNING THE RECOGNITION OF STATE COMPETENCY OVER THE OCEAN
FLOOR
The era is long gone when adventurers, backed by kings aspiring to extend
their power, could claim new lands simply by planting flags to signify
occupation. Antarctica, the only remaining continent not subject to state
sovereignty, benefits from a treaty that, at least in theory, protects it from
such claims.2
The claims formerly made on behalf of kings were in respect of land,
however; never before had a flag been planted on an ocean floor. Not only was
such an act physically impractical, but there was also no necessity to occupy
the ocean floor, because it was not yet exploited. Claims concerning water,
on the other hand, have had a lengthy history. Although Hugo Grotius’s
Mare Liberum (1609), which promulgated the concept of the freedom of the
seas, is considered one of the first modern publications on the law of the sea,
navigation and the exploitation of halieutic resources, together with their
accompanying claims, had been aspects of Phoenician civilization as long
| Kristin Bartenstein |
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