The Australia’s Submission of the Extended Continental Shelf (ECS): A Study on Its Impact to the Indonesia-Australia Maritime Boundaries and Indonesia

A Study on Its Impact to the Indonesia-Australia Maritime Boundaries and Indonesian Potential Claim over ECS

I Made Andi Arsana
madeandi@ugm.ac.id

Bambang A. W. P.
bambangawp@mail.ugm.ac.id


Abstract
On 15 November 2004 Australia submitted its claim over Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) to the Commission on the Limits of the continental shelf (CLCS) through the Secretary General of the United Nations. The submission was to confirm Australia’s claim over continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (nm) measured from its baseline. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) states that every coastal state intending to claim continental shelf beyond 200 nm, is required to submit the claim together with supporting data and convincing arguments to the CLCS.
Australia’s documents of claims have been accessible in the internet through the UN Department of Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS)’s website. This is open for comments and critics from any other countries before a decision is made by the CLCS. Some countries have submitted their official comments concerning the Australia’s submission including, the US, France, East Timor, Japan, and Russia. Indonesia, being the geographically nearest country to Australia, has not submitted its comments to the Australia’s submission for unknown reason.
This paper is to criticize the Australia’s claim over ECS, study its impact to Indonesia-Australia maritime boundaries, and analyse potential response of Indonesia to the claim with regards to Indonesia’s national interests. To do this, a spatial and technical assessment will be required concerning Australia’s ECS claim and Indonesia’s potential claims. CARIS LOTS™, a specialised Geographic Information Systems (GIS) application, will be used to process spatial data required for the analysis.

Keyword: Extended continental shelf, UNCLOS, CLCS, maritime boundary

This has been accepted for oral presentation in PIT HAGI 2006, Semarang.