ABSTRACT
Exploration and exploitation of seabed resources continue to be at the heart of major geopolitical and geostrategic interests over ocean spaces. This chapter intends to bring clarity into the various basic rights and obligations of States when conducting exploration and exploitation activities on the seabed within and beyond national jurisdiction, so either on the continental shelf within and beyond 200 nautical miles or in the Area. The 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf introduces the concept of ‘sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources’, which is a new type of rights created to reflect the monopoly of the coastal State over the sole activities of exploration and exploitation. To a large extent, the exploration and exploitation sovereign rights and related obligations on the continental shelf contained in the CS Geneva Convention were largely reproduced in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
