Environment Plan (UNEP) regional seas programme—effective compliance with
multilateral actions has been hindered by member States’ economic, technological,
and administrative limitations, which explains why many of the situations of environmental vulnerability that exist throughout the basin have worsened, including
those in the Alboran region. Another factor that may have contributed to this process
of deterioration is the fact that a large part of the Alboran’s waters have remained
outside national jurisdiction over recent decades (during which its coastal States’
have experienced strong economic and population growth) as a result of exclusive
rights not being declared in the application of the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The only change to this has come in the last few years,
with the area under the high seas regime being reduced to a third of the basin’s
total area.
In parallel with this, there has been a second, ongoing political and institutional
process which, in contrast, has enabled the strengthening of coastal States’ ability to
govern the area due to the expansion of the EU. With the joining of new memberStates throughout the whole basin, EU States now control some 35% of jurisdictional waters (57% in the Alboran), implying that the EU has a notable ability to
implement its policies, including those of a military or environmental nature.
This chapter is divided into three main sections to analyse these aspects: the first
addresses the region’s geopolitical framework and identifies the extant political
actors and political and socio-economic relations in the region. The second section
examines the basin’s legal regime in the context of the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea. Lastly, the third section focuses on examining maritime
governance in the region, and on the policy instruments and practices involved in the
administration of maritime sectors and the management of the disputes that exist
both among coastal States and with third States.
2.2 Political Geography of the Region
In this chapter, the area covered by the Alboran Sea is taken as the eco-region
defined in Spalding et al. (2007). Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar to Cabo de
Palos-Le Portet (Fig. 2.1), this region has a surface area of about 79,000 km
2 ,
equivalent to 3% of the Mediterranean basin. The area is somewhat complex in
jurisdictional terms, due both to its territorial make-up and the structure of the
maritime spaces over which sovereignty and jurisdictional rights are exercised.
Although all the States around its shores have declared EEZs, there are also some
high sea waters due to Spanish law considering that the EEZ extends from Cabo de
Gata, even though the seafloor and subsoil that underlie the water column form part
of the Spanish continental shelf.
The largest jurisdiction corresponds to EEZ (41%), followed by territorial sea
(32%) and High Seas (22%). In national terms, Spain is the State that presides over
the greatest jurisdiction (Tables 2.1 and 2.2).
12
J. L. Suárez-de Vivero et al.
multilateral actions has been hindered by member States’ economic, technological,
and administrative limitations, which explains why many of the situations of environmental vulnerability that exist throughout the basin have worsened, including
those in the Alboran region. Another factor that may have contributed to this process
of deterioration is the fact that a large part of the Alboran’s waters have remained
outside national jurisdiction over recent decades (during which its coastal States’
have experienced strong economic and population growth) as a result of exclusive
rights not being declared in the application of the United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The only change to this has come in the last few years,
with the area under the high seas regime being reduced to a third of the basin’s
total area.
In parallel with this, there has been a second, ongoing political and institutional
process which, in contrast, has enabled the strengthening of coastal States’ ability to
govern the area due to the expansion of the EU. With the joining of new memberStates throughout the whole basin, EU States now control some 35% of jurisdictional waters (57% in the Alboran), implying that the EU has a notable ability to
implement its policies, including those of a military or environmental nature.
This chapter is divided into three main sections to analyse these aspects: the first
addresses the region’s geopolitical framework and identifies the extant political
actors and political and socio-economic relations in the region. The second section
examines the basin’s legal regime in the context of the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea. Lastly, the third section focuses on examining maritime
governance in the region, and on the policy instruments and practices involved in the
administration of maritime sectors and the management of the disputes that exist
both among coastal States and with third States.
2.2 Political Geography of the Region
In this chapter, the area covered by the Alboran Sea is taken as the eco-region
defined in Spalding et al. (2007). Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar to Cabo de
Palos-Le Portet (Fig. 2.1), this region has a surface area of about 79,000 km
2 ,
equivalent to 3% of the Mediterranean basin. The area is somewhat complex in
jurisdictional terms, due both to its territorial make-up and the structure of the
maritime spaces over which sovereignty and jurisdictional rights are exercised.
Although all the States around its shores have declared EEZs, there are also some
high sea waters due to Spanish law considering that the EEZ extends from Cabo de
Gata, even though the seafloor and subsoil that underlie the water column form part
of the Spanish continental shelf.
The largest jurisdiction corresponds to EEZ (41%), followed by territorial sea
(32%) and High Seas (22%). In national terms, Spain is the State that presides over
the greatest jurisdiction (Tables 2.1 and 2.2).
12
J. L. Suárez-de Vivero et al.