Sovereignty of Ocean Resources Flashcards

1
Q

Mineral Resources

A
  • diamonds off S&W coast of S.Africa and deposits of tin, titanium and gold found along shores of Alaska
  • deep sea waters = vast amounts of undiscovered resources including manganese nodules, cobalt crusts and sulphide muds
  • currently rarely profitable as extraction is very difficult and expensive and export shipping costs are increasing
  • 2014-16, prices of minerals fell due to shrinking demand from China as economic growth slowed, further reducing profitability
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2
Q

Fossil fuels

A
  • ocean floors are important for recovery of fossil fuels as important oil and gas reserves are found in shallow and deeper water locations offshore
  • Gulf of Mexico oil spill 2010 demonstrates risks of deeper offshore reserves
  • states including Australia, china, Brazil, Canada and Norway allow MNCs to drill for oil deep water close to shoreline
  • large offshore oil discoveries near Brazil 2006, BP, Total and Statoil rushed to explore Angolas offshore waters where major oil fields found by geologists
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3
Q

Geopolitical tensions and conflict

A
  • coastal countries may claim sovereign rights over EEZ territorial limit of 200 nm from shoreline, some EEZs overlap
  • sates may own oversea territories and claim EEZ around theses, UK established EEZ around Falkland Islands, war fight in 1982 between UK and Argentina related to maritime disjunction
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4
Q

What are the two sources of superpower tensions?

A
  • S.China Sea

- Arctic Ocean

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5
Q

The south china sea

A
  • China repeatedly made territorial claims on parts of SCS, contested by other states including the Philippines
  • argument based on ownership claim of island groups and surrounding EEZs, some of these islands artificially enlarged by china so they were able to claim larger EEZ
  • important energy pathway by passage of oil tankers through waters
  • china began to question right of US ships and aircraft to use disputed areas, heightening regional tensions
  • UN tribunal, found none of man-made islands were large enough to qualify fro EEZs, china illegally infringed Philippine’s sovereign rights to fish and develop energy resources in its own EEZ
  • Phillipines adopted policy of blowing up Chinese fishing vessels intercepting contested parts of SCS
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6
Q

Arctic Ocean issues

A
  • tensions recently risen over governance of Arctic Ocean resources competing claims made over waters and resources
  • thought to hold ~90 billion tonnes of oil
  • 2007, Russia used a submarine to place a flag on the seabed at North Pole, viewed as aggressive geopolitical action
  • reduction in tensions after Obama declared area of ocean off limits to exploration
  • shell caused operations in Arctic waters as high cost and risk outbalances low market value of oil
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7
Q

Landlocked countries and societies

A
  • relative isolation of these countries plays a huge role in economic health due to greater difficulties in trading without coastline
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8
Q

Challenges to countries without a coastline

A
  • typically very poor and have low levels of trade
  • 8/15 lowest ranking HDI countries have no coastlines, all in Africa
  • handicap in moving goods to and from ports
  • not benefitted from global migration and cultural idea flows that bought innovations to maritime countries
  • exception = Switzerland, major financing centre and many MNC s including UBS, Botswana exports diamonds using global air networks
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9
Q

Gaining access and trade of ocean

A
  • under international law, landlocked countries have a right to access ocean via transit states for purpose of ‘freedom of the seas’, may be difficult and expensive to uphold
  • Bolivia lost coastline to Chile in 19th century war
  • passage becomes full of delays including inspections and poorly maintained roads
  • Bolivia’s GDP would be 1/5 higher if it had direct access to sea, but is now poorest country in S.America
  • applied to international court of justice in The Hague (Netherlands) to be given sovereign access to the sea, ordering old pacific coastline back
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10
Q

Injustices for indigenous People in coastal areas

A
  • many entirely dependent on fishing for livelihood
  • new gold-mining development in Alaska, threatened salmon ecosystem with water pollution
  • succeeded in stalling mine’s construction, large MNCs pledged to boycott gold
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