The governments of The Bahamas and Denmark, with the support of the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources & Security (ANCORS) and the University of Wollongong are hosting a ‘Baselines, Limits and Boundaries in a Changing Ocean: Delivering Certainty and Stability’ workshop from May 6 – 9, 2024.
“We are here to address a critical climate change challenge faced by our region of small island developing states: the impacts of sea-level rise on our maritime spaces. These discussions and considerations go to the heart of sovereignty and statehood,” Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusa Ali said at the opening ceremony at the Sandyport Beach Resort on Monday, May 6, 2024.
The DG said, “The potential impacts of sea-level rise on our borders and boundaries will continue to be a critical national policy issue for The Bahamas as we participate in the wider international legal debates on the impacts of these physical changes on the Law of the Sea and Ocean Policy.”
She added, “As such, when addressing these concerns in the international sphere and in seeking to augment our active participation, it is vital that we take steps to engage with peer agencies and stakeholders.”
The DG explained that nation-states, and landmasses within those states, will be disproportionately impacted by sea level rise.
She asked, what does this mean for maritime delineation and delimitation.
DG Ali said international law has been clear in stating that boundary agreements are permanent and dispositive.
“From this perspective, stability of boundaries for the sake of peace and security is paramount. It would then follow that if two neighbouring states have negotiated a maritime boundary based on an equidistance between their coastal baselines, shifting coastlines caused by sea-level rise will have no impact on the previously agreed boundary.
“This gives an incentive to determine baselines and limits early — as The Bahamas has done.”
She explained that States need to act now to mitigate any threat to the loss of base points in the future.
“It is our hope that this workshop can contribute to a meaningful and targeted exchange of ideas and best practices which will aid in the building the capacity to do so.”
The DG said, “In seeking to explore the relationship between the threat posed by sea level rise and how Small Island Development States (SIDS), against the backdrop of climate change realities, can determine the locations of their baselines, delineate their maritime claims and delimit their maritime boundaries in accordance with international law, we must be each other’s support systems.”
Denmark’s Deputy Head of Mission Jeppe Hallencreutz Fogtmann and representatives from SIDS from around the Caribbean attended the opening ceremony.
By LLONELLA GILBERT/Bahamas Information Services
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