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Abstract
For more than half a century, Canada has affirmed that all of the waters within its Arctic archipelago, including the Northwest Passage, are Canadian historic internal waters over which it exercises sovereign control. Canada’s detractors have qualified the Canadian position as excessive, arguing that the Northwest Passage is an international strait and that international legal regimes guarantee the preservation of the Arctic waterway. It is this contention, that international legal tools exist—specifically Article 234 of the LOSC and the IMO’s PSSA mechanism—and that they would adequately protect the Northwest Passage even if it came to be recognized as an international strait, which is the subject of investigation.
Abstract
This article addresses both the physical impacts and international legal issues arising from two interlinked stressors on Arctic coastlines: sea level rise and coastal erosion. Key aspects of the legal regime governing the baselines from which coastal States calculate the outer limits of their maritime zones are reviewed and a synopsis of the practice among the Arctic littoral States is provided. The article then turns to a discussion of the practical and international legal responses available to deal with the present and future challenge of rising seas and retreating coasts. The concluding section offers with some reflections on the way forward for a region experiencing some of the most devastating impacts of climate change.