Namria exec voted in UN body on continental shelf

THE Philippines was elected in the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), a United Nations body that facilitates the expansion of continental shelve of coastal states beyond the 200-nautical mile limit.

The Philippine candidate is Efren A. Carandang, deputy administrator of National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria) and one of the country’s most eminent scholars on ocean governance.

“Efren is the Philippines’ foremost authority on the technical intricacies of the law of the sea, which is to say that he is one of the very best in the world,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said during a diplomatic reception at the UN headquarters in New York City last May.

A continental shelf is the part of the continent that is under water. It used to be part of the land during the ice ages of the glacial period. Under the constitution of the seas called the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), coastal states can claim up to 200 nautical miles of continental shelf.

According to the Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, this is the first time that the Philippines, an archipelagic state, will serve in the commission.

UNCLOS state parties held the elections for CLCS candidates at the UN General Assembly last Wednesday, June 15.

The Philippines won the seat in the Asia-pacific Group.

“[The Philippines] competed with eight other candidates under the APG, and successfully reached the required majority of votes, with 113 votes from a total of 164 [UNCLOS] states present and voting, after four tough rounds of voting,” the Mission said in a tweet.

Carandang will serve a five-year term, which will be from 2023 until 2028.

In 2009, Carandang is part of the core team that prepared the Philippine application to extend the continental shelf of the northeastern territory called Benham Rise or Philippine Rise. The CLCS approved the application in 2012.

The 13-million hectare Benham Rise is largely unexplored. Marine scientists believed it is potentially a rich source of natural gas and other resources such as heavy metals.