Brazil advances over the Area: The inclusion of the Rio Grande Rise within the Brazilian outer continental shelf and its consequences for other states and for the common heritage of mankind

• Published in: Marine policy Vol. 125; p. 104399
• Main Author: Pereira da Silva, Alexandre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2021
• Subjects: Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf; International Seabed Authority; Outer continental shelf; Rio Grande Rise; United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; International Seabed Authority; Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf; Outer continental shelf; Rio Grande Rise
• ISSN: 0308-597X; 1872-9460
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104399

This article explores one particular aspect of the latest Brazilian partial revised submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which is the inclusion of the Rio Grande Rise (RGR) within the country’s continental margin. This incorporation raises the Brazilian outer continental shelf from less than one million to over two million square kilometers. Moreover, part of the RGR is currently under a 15-year exploration contract between a Brazilian state-owned company and the International Seabed Authority, but the Brazilian government now intends to withdraw its sponsorship, which would put an end to the contract. The article concludes that the incorporation of the RGR by Brazil has negative impacts on other states and on the common heritage of mankind, mainly in terms of restrictions to marine scientific research and benefit-sharing from future exploitations of mineral resources. •The latest Brazilian submission to the CLCS incorporates the Rio Grande Rise (RGR).•However, part of the RGR is under an exploration contract between a Brazilian state-owned company and the ISA.•Brazilian government intends to end the contract, arguing that the RGR is no longer common heritage of mankind.•The incorporation of the RGR by Brazil has also impact on the other states, mainly in terms of marine scientific research.