Ratify Law of the Sea

While a minority of Senators block U.S. entry into the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, nations like Canada seek approval to map their underwater territory using robots.

Greenwire

Data gathered by the yellow torpedo-shaped probes will become part of Canada’s bid to prove its continental slope stretches far beyond the 200-nautical-mile territorial limit. The matter will be decided by a U.N. panel overseeing claims under the 28-year-old Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Canada, the United States, Russia, Denmark and Norway are involved in a scrum over Arctic bottomland and long-frozen shipping lanes that have started to thaw as global temperatures rise. With scientists predicting that Arctic summers may be ice-free by the 2030s, the five nations have mounted studies they hope will help expand their territories.

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The timeline for U.S. involvement with the treaty — and if it signs on at all — depends on the Senate.

While the issue has support on both sides of the aisle, as well as from the oil industry and environmentalists, finding time for it on the Senate calendar has been an obstacle.  Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who opposes signing onto the treaty because he believes it would mean giving up some U.S. sovereignty, said last spring he would try to block the measure (E&E Daily, May 27, 2009).

Last week, the Pentagon reiterated its support for the treaty in its defense strategy road map, stating that signing on would “support cooperative engagement in the Arctic.” It noted that such involvement could “promote a balanced approach to improving human and environmental security in the region.”

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The Center for a New American Security, an independent and nonpartisan research institution, has published Contested Commons: The Future of American Power in a Multipolar World (PDF), a report wherein they insist ratification will, ‘…lay the groundwork to build up cooperative efforts to minimize conflict over the long term.”

Excerpt:

Considering the strategic importance of the oceans for U.S. security and economic interests, it is imperative that the Senate ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Doing so will benefit immediate U.S. national security interests and lay the groundwork to build up cooperative efforts to minimize conflict over the long term.

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Not surprisingly, the leadership of the U.S. Navy has advocated UNCLOS ratification. America’s nonparty status contradicts its strategy and narrative about cooperation and the rule of law. As one defense official put it recently, it is not enough just to play by the rules — the United States must champion the rules and lead efforts to adapt to the international rules when necessary. At present, American has abandoned its seat at the table and forfeited the opportunity to shape international policy.

Download a copy of the report (PDF)

Press release from the Center for a New American Security

Just what is at stake if the U.S. fails to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea? According to Karen Erickson, a voice in decisions that affect major political, economic, and security interests.

Foster’s Daily Democrat – Karen Erickson, Dean, School of Liberal Arts Southern New Hampshire University Manchester

“For more than two decades, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have supported ratification of UNCLOS, but the U.S. Senate has not acted. The Senate must act now to meet increasingly urgent national needs.

What is at stake for the U. S.? By joining UNCLOS, the U.S. will forward longtime vital interests to secure freedom of navigation and also to control its coastal activities. UNCLOS protects military and commercial navigation and overflight, and passage through international straits, all essential for the Armed Forces and national security.

UNCLOS is the framework for establishing claims to offshore resources and the deep seabed. The stakes are high. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates 90 billion barrels of recoverable oil north of the Arctic Circle, which constitutes 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil. On top of that, they estimate that the region contains 20 percent of Earth’s remaining undiscovered natural gas and 30 percent of the liquid natural gas. Alaska accounts for 20 percent of domestic oil production but adherence to UNCLOS could increase drastically U.S. rights to seabed oil and natural gas, thereby securing our unparalleled exclusive economic zone of 3.36 million square miles.”
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