Ocean geopolitics and resource conflict
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Flip to reveal answersDefine sovereignty (oceans).
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Question
Define sovereignty (oceans).
Answer
A state's legal right to **control its own territory**, including the sea near its coast.
Question
What is an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)?
Answer
The sea out to **200 nautical miles** from the coast, where the state owns all the **resources** (fish, oil, gas, minerals).
Question
How wide is the territorial sea?
Answer
**12 nautical miles** from the coast, where the state has near-full sovereignty.
Question
What is UNCLOS?
Answer
The **UN Convention on the Law of the Sea** — the treaty defining maritime zones and the rights states have in each.
Question
What are abiotic ocean resources?
Answer
**Non-living** resources of the sea — **oil, gas and seabed minerals** — the focus of resource conflict.
Question
What is a shipping chokepoint?
Answer
A **narrow strait** that a large share of world trade must pass through (e.g. Hormuz, Malacca).
Question
Which chokepoint carries the most oil?
Answer
The **Strait of Hormuz** — about 21 million barrels a day from the Gulf.
Question
Why is the South China Sea contested?
Answer
Several states' **EEZs overlap** around the **Spratly/Paracel** islands, which hold oil, gas and rich fishing on a major route.
Question
Why is the Arctic increasingly contested?
Answer
Melting ice opens access to **seabed oil, gas and minerals** and new shipping lanes, so states submit rival continental-shelf claims.
Question
Give one political challenge of shipping oil by sea.
Answer
Tankers cross narrow chokepoints in others' waters, so a state can **threaten to close** a strait (e.g. Hormuz) as leverage.
Question
Give one environmental challenge of shipping oil by sea.
Answer
A collision or grounding causes an **oil spill** that ocean currents spread, killing marine life over a wide area.
Question
What does a top [10] ocean-disputes essay need?
Answer
Both sides, accurate terms (EEZ, UNCLOS), **named cases** (South China Sea, Arctic, Hormuz) and a justified judgement.
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Topic 8.4 hub
Ocean management futures
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