The oceans play a considerable economic and geopolitical role today. But we tend to forget them a little, we look on the maps at the emerged lands rather than these large blue spaces.

Introduction 

The oceans represent 71% of the surface of our planet and are home to 97% of the water found there. They are usually considered to be 5 in number. From largest to smallest in terms of area, we find the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Pacific, the Antarctic and the Arctic. Many stretches of oceans have been disputed between many countries for a long time. They are strategic because they are home to essential natural resources: food resources (fishing), energy (located in the seabed = oil and gas). France, for example, holds marine territories all around its overseas territories, it holds the second maritime space in terms of area behind the United States. The oceans are also the highways of trade , 80% of goods are transported via maritime routes, this represents more than 10 billion tonnes per year.

International law

It is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which governs the law of the oceans. This convention was signed in 1982 in Jamaica and will enter into force 12 years later in 1994. This convention delimits, for example, the areas under the control of the countries. A country is totally sovereign over its territorial waters as well as its subsoil and airspace, which are up to 12 nautical miles away, it enforces its laws and regulations there but it must nevertheless allow foreign ships to pass provided that those These pose no threat and are not aggressive. After the territorial sea, there is also the contiguous zone over 12 nautical miles, in this zone the State has the right to prevent violations of its customs, tax, health or immigration laws and regulations. And then there is the exclusive economic zone, which extends 200,000 seafarers from the coast. In this zone, the coastal State has sovereign rights for the exploration, exploitation, conservation and management of natural resources, whether they are located in the water or underground. However, in the part of the EEZ after the contiguous zone, the other States have more rights: they can navigate or fly over the zone more freely as well as lay cables and submarines. The EEZ can extend via the continental shelf, according to the convention the continental shelf represents the entire extent of the natural extension of the land territory of the coastal state = it is therefore a geological limit which sometimes remains difficult to determine.

Islands and conflicts

What happens when two coastal states are very close to each other? When two states are very close and the 200,000 nautical miles are not respected, the width is cut in two according to the equidistance rule. However, if there is also an island which belongs to a state but which is closer to the neighboring state, the maritime border will then have to be redrawn, because the islands enjoy the same EEZ as continental zones, the convention says " the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of an island are delimited in accordance with the provisions of the convention applicable to other land territories. All islands therefore have a considerable strategic importance for the control of the subsoil, it is for this reason that many of them are disputed. As an example we can take the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea, this area is strategic at the economic and geopolitical level because it includes a significant fishing reserve and oil and gas reserves in its basements. But on the other hand, it is also a significant transit point for the maritime transport of world goods, thanks in particular to the proximity to China. It is for these reasons that the Spratly Islands are disputed between all the countries of the region: China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. By officially controlling these islands, these countries would also control their adjacent EEZ and thus the aforementioned nature reserves. Knowing that the EEZs claim by each of the countries overlapping enormously between them, this therefore creates tensions in the region. China is undoubtedly the most important player, it claims power over the entire archipelago, so we can see that its EEZ would extend far from its continent. This claim is part of its more global strategy to control the South China Sea, by making it a real inland sea, in its desire to control navigation there and thus establish itself as a leader in the region. China has even embarked on the creation of artificial islands in the archipelago, with the hope that EEZs will be established around them. But this was refused by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international court. In addition, almost all of the permanently emerged islands are occupied, most of the time housing military spaces from one or other surrounding countries. We can see from this example that controlling tiny islands is an effective way to take advantage of the riches of the oceans and in this region no country wants to let go.

The Arctic 

Another, less well-known example is that of the Arctic. Around and closer than you might think are Russia, Norway, Svalbard, Greenland, Canada and Alaska. With global warming, sea ice arrives later and later in the year and melts faster and faster. The oceans are free of ice three to five times a year instead of 2 to 2 and a half previously. The riparian countries therefore see it as an opportunity both in terms of exploring the natural resources of the subsoil and in terms of exploiting the new maritime routes that are then being created. The EEZs up to 200 nautical miles having already been determined and negotiated around the North Pole by each of the States, the stakes here are around the continental shelves. During the 2000s, the riparian countries chained underwater missions aimed at determining the extent of the continental shelves and therefore also the enlargement of the EEZs to which they could claim. This has led to conflicts, for example Russia under the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain range, is the extension of their continental shelf. While Denmark, on the contrary, maintains that this ridge is geologically part of Greenland. As for Canada, it considers that it extends the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. However, most of the natural oil and gas resources seem to be in the already defined EEZs. As for maritime routes, despite the acceleration of global warming, they will only be passable in many years to come. Especially since several surveys carried out in 2011 and 2013 among shipping companies showed that they had no real intention of developing their activities in the Arctic. The issue around the Arctic Ocean is therefore very real, but needs to be qualified. It nevertheless remains an important example missing the importance for States to have maritime spaces. We can therefore see that Greenland is an absolutely strategic territory for Denmark, which would see its EEZ reduced to nothing without its possession.

Ivory Coast and Ghana 

Let's take a last more concrete example, that in West Africa off the coast of the Ivory Coast and Ghana, two countries wishing to develop their oil activity. In 2010, a British oil company, Tullow Oil, discovered an offshore oil deposit. However, the problem is that the maritime border between the two countries had never been officially drawn. A more or less lively agreement existed between the two neighbors who respected a kind of median line. So when Ghana began to exploit the deposit, Côte d'Ivoire considered that its neighbor violated its sovereign and exclusive rights on its continental shelf. No amicable agreement could be reached and it was at the end of 2017 that the international tribunal for the law of the sea finally traced the dispute giving reason to Ghana within these maritime limits presented and which include the deposit in its maritime space. Côte d'Ivoire, for its part, considered that the deposit was in an area which was rightfully its own. By this concrete case, we see that the limits of maritime spaces can be decisive, we have here two poor African countries which rely heavily on oil to develop their respective economies. These offshore deposits therefore represent real opportunities that no one wants to miss.

Finally, all these examples show us one thing, the oceans are just as coveted as the land, whether for economic or geopolitical reasons, and they too are decisive in the development of international relations.

Coline Dubant Saunier