The UN fund assists developing countries in documenting the outer limits of their continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles. Such documentation can be decisive for many developing countries in terms of their control over and exploitation of national resources, and for their social and economic development.

Norway is also more generally keen to help to enable developing countries to safeguard their rights and obligations under the law of the sea. The fund was set up in 2000 on Norway’s initiative, and Norway is its largest contributor. The fund has financed a number of successful activities, and plays an important role in the UN’s efforts in this field.

The Convention on the Law of the Sea provides that coastal states’ continental shelves automatically stretch out to 200 nautical miles. States with geological extensions under the sea that stretch out beyond this distance have to submit documentation of this fact to an international commission in New York (the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, or CLCS). The documentation must be approved by the Commission before the coastal state can establish the final outer limits of the shelf.

Many coastal states have documentation submission deadlines in 2009, and many developing countries have a lot of work left to do. Norway intends this contribution to help intensify UN efforts in this area.

Press contact: Assistant Director General Kjell Kristian Egge, tel. 22 24 34 30.