Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf Concludes Thirty-Sixth Session

NEW YORK, 1 December (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its thirty-sixth session at United Nations Headquarters from 20 October to 28 November.  The Commission, working through its subcommissions, devoted these six weeks to the technical examination of submissions at the Geographic Information Systems laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.

There are nine submissions which are currently under active consideration by the subcommissions, namely, by Uruguay; the Cook Islands concerning the Manihiki Plateau; Argentina; Pakistan; Norway in respect of Bouvetøya and Dronning Maud Land; South Africa in respect of the South African Mainland; jointly by the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands concerning the Ontong Java Plateau; jointly by France and South Africa in the area of the Crozet Archipelago and the Prince Edward Islands; and Mauritius in the region of Rodrigues Island.  Some of these subcommissions met with the respective delegations during the thirty-sixth session.

The developing States’ members of the Commission were also informed about the status of the trust fund for the purpose of defraying the cost of participation in the meetings.

Details of the thirty-sixth session will be reflected in the Statement by the Chairperson of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on the body’s progress of work, which will be issued as document CLCS/86.

In 2015, the Commission will hold three sessions of seven weeks each, including plenary meetings, for a total of 21 weeks of meetings of the Commission and its subcommissions.  Four of the 21 weeks will be devoted to plenary meetings.  This decision was taken by the Commission at its thirty-fifth session on the understanding that it could be revisited during the thirty-seventh session, in light of the progress made in the subcommissions and other developments related to both the Commission’s workload and conditions of service of its members.  The dates are as follows:

(a) The thirty-seventh session would be held from 2 February to 20 March 2015.  The plenary parts of the session would be held, subject to the approval of the General Assembly, from 9 to 13 February and from 9 to 13 March 2015;

(b) The thirty-eighth session would be held from 20 July to 4 September 2015.  The plenary parts of the session would be held, subject to the approval of the General Assembly, from 3 to 7 and from 24 to 28 August 2015;

(c) The thirty-ninth session would be held from 12 October to 27 November 2015, with no plans for plenary meetings.

For additional information on the work of the Commission, see the Division’s website at www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm.