HYDROGRAPHIC APPROACH IN THE SETTLEMENT OF THE INDONESIA-MALAYSIA CONTINENTAL SHELF BOUNDARY IN THE SULAWESI SEA

• Main Author: Jannahnur Rahma, Zulfa
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Geologi, hidrologi & meteorologi
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/79687
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

In accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which has been ratified by Indonesia in Law Number 32 of 2014, Indonesia meets the definition of an archipelagic state, a country consisting entirely of one or more islands and can include other islands. As an archipelagic country where most of its territory consists of oceans, Indonesia has enormous potential for biological and non-biological resources. Indonesia's waters are geographically conterminal by ten countries, one of which is Malaysia. Indonesia and Malaysia have held several meetings to make an agreement regarding maritime boundaries, but there is no agreement on the boundaries of the Continental Shelf in the Sulawesi Sea segment. Sulawesi Sea has an area of conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia, namely the Ambalat Block. Moreover, the Ambalat Block is a conflict zone between Indonesia and Malaysia because it contains abundant oil and gas reserves. The maritime delimitation method used for the delineation of the Continental Shelf is the equidistance method. The equidistance method is a method that produces a center line with the same distance between the base points. The application of the base line refers to UNCLOS 1982, where Indonesia as an archipelagic country has the right to use the Archipelagic Baselines. The result of this research is in the form of Indonesia-Malaysia Continental Shelf Boundary Map in the Sulawesi Sea along with a table of continental shelf area for each country. Based on the table, the most optimal continental shelf area for Indonesia is 3.105 km². The resulting continental shelf boundary line when compared to the continental shelf boundary line which needs an agreement on the 2017 NKRI Map has shifted far towards the Indonesian mainland resulting in a reduced area of the Indonesian Continental Shelf by 2.733 km². This research is expected to be a recommendation in the negotiation of the Continental Shelf boundary between Indonesia and Malaysia.