3 - Maritime Delimitation and Coastal Instability

Summary

UNCLOS articles 74 and 83 require that equitable solutions are achieved on the basis of international law. This entails an obligation to consider all relevant circumstances. Courts and tribunals traditionally delimit bilateral boundaries by delimiting an equidistance line and only adjust it by reference to relevant circumstances. Such circumstances primarily relate to coastal geography and the time of delimitation. However, judicial decisions can consider coastal instability, and complicated scientific evidence. This has allowed courts and tribunals to assess seasonal changes to ice sheets and access to fish stocks; the status of coastal features; and feasibility of potential base points. Indeed, foreseeable changes to coastal geography can affect the delimitation process to produce boundaries that are less dependent on particularly unstable coastal features. This can strengthen the link between fluctuating maritime limits and permanent boundaries and prevent invocation of the rebus sic stantibus principle. Foreseeable changes to coastal geography can affect the choice of base points or delimitation methods and lead to an adjustment of provisional boundaries.