UNCLOS som felles ramme i nord: En sammenligning av maritim ressursforvaltning på Grønland og på Svalbard: En sammenligning av maritim ressursforvaltning på Grønland og på Svalbard
Translated title
UNCLOS in the Arctic: A Comparative Study of Maritime Resource Governance in Greenland and Svalbard: A Comparative Study of Maritime Resource Governance in Greenland and Svalbard
Author
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2025
Submitted on
2025-12-01
Pages
63
Abstract
This thesis examines how the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) operates as a shared legal framework for maritime resource governance in the Arctic by comparing Greenland and Svalbard. Focusing on Articles 56 (exclusive economic zone) and 77 (continental shelf), it analyzes how general coastal State rights and duties are implemented when they meet two distinct institutional regimes. Greenland’s delegated external action under the Self-Government Act and Svalbard’s lex specialis constraints on Norwegian sovereignty (non-discrimination and a neutral tax/fee regime) under the 1920 Treaty. Methodologically, the study applies the holistic interpretation rules of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) Articles 31-32, with particular attention to subsequent agreements and practice and to systemic integration, and uses VCLT Articles 6–8 (representation, full powers, and ratification/ratihabition) to assess attribution risks in delegated models. Empirically, it considers EU-Greenland Sustainable Fisheries Partnership arrangements, Greenland’s resource and environmental licensing, Norway’s regulation in the Svalbard Fisheries Protection Zone, and licensing over sedentary species on the shelf (e.g., snow crab), as well as Svalbard’s Article 8 proportionality constraints on taxation and fees. The findings show that UNCLOS functions as a stable “lex generalis” at sea for both cases, while institutional differences determine the practical expression of governance: Greenland’s flexibility is achieved through negotiated protocols and joint committees, whereas Svalbard’s is achieved through non-discriminatory, proportionate domestic regulation on land/territorial sea and science-based measures offshore. Because UNCLOS bars reservations and permits only narrow exit options, effective adaptation occurs through interpretation, subsequent practice, and institutional design rather than through “hard” treaty modification. The thesis concludes that UNCLOS is both connective tissue and a site of friction. It supplies the common vocabulary and constraints for Arctic resource governance, yet its interaction with lex specialis (Svalbard) and delegated autonomy (Greenland) produces distinct operational logics and risk profiles.
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