Ocean Policy Research Blog

The Ocean Policy Research Foundation (OPRF) held an international seminar entitled “What is to be done towards development of resources on the continental shelf for the future” on January 10, 2013.
One of the ongoing projects which OPRF has been undertaking is “Research for Issues accompanied by the Extended Continental Shelf”. We now focus our attention on the extended continental shelf (the ECS) and its natural resources towards the development. The seminar was composed of two sessions. The presentation in the first session overviewed the legal framework for the ECS towards exploring it and exploiting its resources, and provided some perspective for regulating its usage. The second session considered the more practical and technical aspects of the development of natural resources in the case of Malaysia and Japan respectively.
The seminar attracted 150 participants and was chaired by Prof. Moritaka Hayashi (Waseda University /Special Research Fellow, OPRF). The program was as follows:

Session 1:
Legal Framework of Development of Natural Resources on the Continental Shelf
The Legal Framework of the Extended Continental Shelf: Towards Exploring it, Exploiting its Natural Resources and Regulation
- Ms. Joanna MOSSOP
Senior Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand



Session 2:
Toward the Development of Natural Resources on the Continental Shelf
Geology and seabed resources in the South China Sea: a Malaysian perspective
- Dr. Mazlan Bin MADON
Chief Geoscientist, Malaysia’s National Petroleum Company (PETRONAS)
Member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS)

Towards the development of mineral resources on the Continental Shelf of Japan
- Prof. Tetsuro URABE
Department of Earth & Planetary Science, University of Tokyo
Member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS)




* This project was funded by a generous grant from the Nippon Foundation.