Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T04:55:06.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Our seabed? Argentina, the Falklands and the wider South Atlantic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2016

Klaus Dodds
Klaus Dodds*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Surrey TW20 0EX ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This note addresses the recent announcement regarding Argentina's submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. While the commission considered much of Argentina's submitted materials regarding the outer continental shelf (and sovereign rights that accrue to the seabed), it deliberately excluded areas of controversy including the Falkland Islands and Antarctica. What should be of interest to Polar Record readers is how consistently international media, including British journalists, misunderstand international maritime law and ‘stoke’ the fires of Argentine and British nationalisms. The Argentine government, however, was not an innocent party and its own press releases were ambiguous on the matter concerned, even if the commission had recognised the merit of much of their scientific-technical submission.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 52 , Issue 5 , September 2016 , pp. 535 - 540
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Argentina. 2009. Submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf 21 April 2009. URL: http://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/arg25_09/arg2009e_summary_eng.pdf Google Scholar
Buenos Aires Herald . 2016. UN expands Argentine sovereignty over maritime space, 28 March 2016. URL: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/211485/un-expands-argentine-sovereignty-oveRecent developments in relations between the United Kingdom and the Argentine Republic in the South Atlantic/Antarctic region r-maritime-spaceGoogle Scholar
Benwell, M. 2014. From the banal to the blatant: expressions of nationalism in secondary schools in Argentina and the Falkland Islands. Geoforum 52: 51–60.Google Scholar
Benwell, M. and Dodds, K.. 2011. Argentine territorial nationalism revisited: the Malvinas/Falklands dispute and geographies of everyday nationalism’. Political Geography 30: 441–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Child, J. 2009. Miniature messages: the semiotics and politics of Latin American postage stamps. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Dodds, K. 2010. Flag waving and finger pointing: the law of the sea, the Arctic and the political geographies of the outer continental shelf. Political Geography 29: 63–70.Google Scholar
Dodds, K. and Benwell, M.. 2010. More unfinished business: the Falklands/Malvinas, maritime claims, and the spectre of oil in the South Atlantic. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 28: 571–580.Google Scholar
Dodds, K. and Hemmings, A.. 2014. Recent developments in relations between the United Kingdom and the Argentine Republic in the South Atlantic/Antarctic region. Polar Record 50: 119–127.Google Scholar
Elden, S. 2013. Secure the volume: vertical geopolitics and the depth of power. Political Geography 34: 35–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemmings, A. and Stephens, T.. 2010. The extended continental shelves of sub-Antarctic islands: implications for Antarctic governance’. Polar Record 46: 312–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Guardian . 2016. Falklands Islands lies in Argentine waters, UN Commission rules. 29 March 2016. URL: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/29/falkland-islands-argentina-waters-rules-un-commission Google Scholar
Koivurova, T. 2009. Do the continental shelf developments challenge the polar regions? In: Gudmundur, A. and Koivurova, T. (editors). The yearbook of polar law. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill Publishers: 477–497.Google Scholar
Mercopress . 2016. Argentina makes official presentation of new continental shelf outer limit. 29 March 2016. URL: http://en.mercopress.com/2016/03/29/argentina-makes-official-presentation-of-new-continental-shelf-outer-limit Google Scholar
Netherlands. 2009. Submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. 30 September 2009. URL: http://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/arg25_09/nld_re_arg_2009.pdf Google Scholar
New York Times . 2016. Argentina: UN decision expands maritime territory. 28 March URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/world/americas/argentina-un-decision-expands-maritime-territory.html?_r=0 Google Scholar
Oude Elferink, A.G. 2008. The time limit for making submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf–the current state of affairs. The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 4: 769–778.Google Scholar
Oude Elferink, A.G. 2013. The outer limits of the continental shelf in the polar regions. In: Molenaar, E.J., Oude Elferink, A.G. and Rothwell, D.R. (editors). The law of the sea and polar regions: interactions between global and regional regimes Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 61–84.Google Scholar
Oude Elferink, A., Rothwell, D.R., Stephens, T. and Scott, K.N. (editors). 2015. The Oxford handbook of the law of the sea. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Press, A. 2012. Explainer: Australia's extended continental shelf and Antarctica. The Conversation 29 May URL: https://theconversation.com/explainer-australias-extended-continental-shelf-and-antarctica-7298 Google Scholar
Sky News . 2016. Argentina celebrates UN Falklands decision. 29 March 2016. URL: http://news.sky.com/story/1668679/argentina-celebrates-un-falklands-decision Google Scholar
United Kingdom. 2012. Submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. 23 August 2012 URL: http://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/arg25_09/gbr_re_arg_2009_2.pdf Google Scholar
UN CLCS. 2016. Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf concludes fortieth session. 28 March 2016. URL: http://www.un.org/press/en/2016/sea2030.doc.htm Google Scholar
Watson, L. 2016. The Argentines are childish stalkers who menace us Falkland Islanders. Daily Telegraph 29 March 2016. URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2016/03/29/the-argentines-are-childish-stalkers-who-menace-us-falkland-isla/ Google Scholar