About the Continental Shelf Project
In 2003, when the Danish Parliament decided to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the parliaments of the Faroe Islands and Greenland subsequently endorsed this decision.
On 16 November 2004, the Kingdom of Denmark ratified UNCLOS. From the date of its ratification of the convention (in the case of the Kingdom 16 November 2004), a coastal state has 10 years to put forward claims of extending the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.
Here you can see the time schedule for the Continental Shelf Project.
Five potential areas have been identified off the Faroe Islands and Greenland, including the North Pole.
In order to provide the necessary database, the Continental Shelf Project of the Kingdom of Denmark was launched by the Ministry for Higher Education and Science in co-operation with the Faroese and Greenland governments and with the participation of various institutions in Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
Between 2009 and 2014, five Partial Submissions covering the five relevant areas have been forwarded to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS):
- North of the Faroe Islands (NFM) covering an area of approximately 88,000 km². On 12 March 2014, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) finalized its examination and made its recommendation that endorsed the outer limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. This Partial Submission was originally forwarded to the CLCS on 29 April 2009.
- South of the Faroe Islands (SFM) covering an area of approximately 608,000 km² (submitted on 2 December 2010).
- South of Greenland (SGM) covering an area of approximately 115,000 km² (submitted on 14 June 2012).
- Northeast of Greenland (NEGM) covering an area of approximately 62,000 km² (submitted on 26 November 2013).
- North of Greenland (NGM) covering an area of approximately 895,000 km² (submitted on 15 December 2014).
