Ecuador and Costa Rica ask UN to expand limits of their continental shelf

Ecuador and Costa Rica requested Wednesday before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf of the United Nations (CLPC) the expansion of their outer margins, said the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Luis Gallegos.

“For the first time, two countries come together for a joint presentation on the extension of their continental shelves,” the diplomat said in a statement.

Gallegos noted that both nations delivered “a document that scientifically demonstrates that the extension of the Carnegie submarine mountain range and the Cocos submarine mountain range” meet the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of the Sea “to extend beyond 200 nautical miles.”

This would give the two nations “rights over the use of the soil and subsoil of a wide area of ​​great marine wealth,” according to statements released by the Foreign Ministry.

In 2016, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador resolved their maritime boundaries in the Pacific.

Previously, in 2014, San José and Quito had signed an agreement that established the maritime limits from the Ecuadorian archipelago of Galapagos and the Costa Rican Cocos Island, forming a corridor with enormous biological and mineral wealth.

Galapagos, 1,000 km from the mainland, and Cocos Island are important national parks for both nations.

Gallegos trusted that the request will serve “to work together for the conservation and sustainable use of resources, including those of marine biodiversity beyond jurisdictional waters.”