The notions of rock, island, installation, structure and artificial island in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Abstract

The marine environment has an economic and geostrategic value of the first magnitude, as demonstrated by the numerous international disputes between States against the backdrop of this fact. An example is the existing tensions over the claims of different States in the South China Sea, tensions that the Philippines brought a lawsuit against the Chinese State and that were “resolved” by means of a disputed arbitration award, which interpreted precisely the notions that are the object of study in this paper. We are referring to the notions of low tide elevation, rock and island, notions that were in need of careful study, since, even though more than four decades have passed since the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), international jurisprudence had passed over them until then and the doctrine had not and has not reached a true consensus on their interpretation. The uncertainty is even greater when any of these natural marine features are the object of engineering works to build on them –although also outside them– structures, installations or artificial islands, questioning then the status of the features and the spaces to which it would be entitled, as well as who can build them, in what maritime space and for what purposes.

The conclusions to be drawn are of interest beyond the specific case, since the extraordinary evolution of technology makes it possible today to carry out engineering works that were unimaginable at the time of the adoption of the Montego Bay Convention, works that are sometimes absolutely necessary to cope with the rise in sea level as a result of climate change and thus prevent the gradual disappearance of certain features; on other occasions, works freely decided by the States to take advantage of the new possibilities offered by the marine environment, such as the production of energy from the seas and oceans, or the construction of artificial islands for various purposes, from residential to strictly military purposes.