Principles of international environmental protection - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 89

conservation areas protect the various vulnerable ecosystems in the area and
Svalbard Islands is a centre for climate change research.
All parties to the treaty, their citizens and companies are entitled to carry on
economic activities in Svalbard Islands on equal terms with the Norwegians
(non-discrimination principle). The Russians and Norwegians have continued
their coal mining practices in the area but this activity is reducing. The demil-
itarization and political neutrality of the area is also secured by the treaty
(Article 9). Due to its unique administrative system, Svalbard Islands were not
included in the European Economic Area (EEA).
The Svalbard Islands arrangement has functioned successfully. The only
controversy concerns the legal status of the surrounding waters and seabed.
The Svalbard Islands treaty is expressly applied up to the outer limit of the
territorial waters only (12 nautical miles today) by virtue of Article 2(1), as
longer-reaching marine zones did not exist in 1920. Norway considers the
matter clear: the Norwegian position is that the Svalbard Islands treaty applies
only to the maximum extent of the territorial sea, as is provided in Article 2;
it has exclusive rights (excluding the rights of other parties and their nationals)
to establish an exclusive economic zone around Svalbard and is hence free to
allow oil drilling and fi shing around Svalbard Islands outside of its territorial
sea. Other parties disagree. Some, like the USA, object to Norway's claim but
fail to express why.
Some parties, like Russia or Iceland, consider that Norway has no right to
establish an exclusive economic zone around Svalbard Islands or to claim title
to the natural resources on the Svalbard Islands continental shelf. While most
states accept that Norway can establish an exclusive economic zone and
administer the natural resources in the continental shelf, they consider that
the Svalbard Islands treaty should also apply to these marine areas. Their view
is that the rights of other states and their citizens would have been extended
to these areas if the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf had
been part of the Law of the Sea in the 1920s. They consider that the Svalbard
Islands treaty should be interpreted in the context of the evolution of the
international law of the sea.
This is a diffi cult dispute to settle. Meanwhile, Norway established an
exclusive economic zone around Svalbard, which it provisionally transformed
to a fi sheries protection zone, due to resistance from other parties. This
protection zone is consistent with the treaty: it treats the citizens and compa-
nies of all parties equally. Real pressure to resolve the stalemate will be created
if Norway should allow oil drilling in the Svalbard Islands continental shelf,
for instance. The fi sheries protection zone will probably remain the basis for
the administration of the marine areas, because the parties cannot come to an
agreement on any other solution. So far, the environment is very well
protected: a strict comprehensive environmental protection act is applied to
the land areas and there is a fi sheries conservation area covering the marine
areas.