How is the Law of the Sea relevant for the Arctic?

 The Arctic Ocean is surrounded by five coastal countries: Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Norway, Russia and the United States. All five enjoy certain legal prerogatives related to Arctic waters. They exercise full sovereignty over their territorial waters, the area within 12 nautical miles of their coastlines; and on the continental shelf under the Arctic Ocean, the natural extension of the country's landmass. They also enjoy sovereign rights - the so-called resource rights - in Arctic waters extending up to 200 nautical miles from their coastlines. This area is known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). While the coastal countries have the jurisdiction to protect marine environments in the EEZ, the non-coastal states also have certain rights, such as the freedom of navigation, overflights, and laying of submarine cables. The areas beyond 200 nautical miles are defined as the High Seas and are often referred to as areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ).

The law of the sea provides for specific lawful actions for all states on the high seas, such as navigation, resource extraction, overflights, laying of cable and pipelines, placing artificial installations, and marine scientific research. In exercising these activities, countries act with due diligence to conserve marine living resources, protect the marine environment from pollution, and respect the rights, duties and interests of coastal states.

Nations are also restrained from carrying out any unlawful activities on the high seas. In the Arctic, marine areas are the crucial points of interaction between the Arctic and non-Arctic states in terms of exercising rights and duties. The increased melting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is creating opportunities for many new activities, such as offshore oil and gas, fishing, shipping, and infrastructure development. The law of the sea offers guiding principles and rules to follow both within, and beyond, the jurisdictional boundaries of the Arctic states. Those principles and rules apply to all activities in the Arctic, whether marine environmental protection, resource exploration, shipping, or disputes over extended continental shelves. It is in this context that the law of the sea is relevant to the Arctic and offers an overarching framework to regulate its development.