Decision on the Extension of the African Continental Shelf and Climate Change Doc. EX.CL/391 (XII)

DECISION ON THE EXTENSION OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL SHELF AND CLIMATE CHANGE - DOC. EX.CL/391 (XII)

The Assembly:

1. RECALLS the objectives and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea;

2. FURTHER RECALLS the decisions and Declarations of the Addis Ababa Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union on Science and Technology;

3. CONSCIOUS of the major geopolitical and strategic stakes linked to the African continental shelf and of its abundant mineral and biological resources, which constitute an important source of foreign currency earnings for the economic development of the continent;

4. CALLS ON Coastal Member States to speed up the process of preparing and submitting the claims for the extension of the limits of their continental shelf, AND REQUESTS the AU Commission to assist Member States in this regard, with the view to meeting the deadline of 12 May 2009;

5. ENCOURAGES Member States, to submit to the United Nations General Assembly a recommendation for a postponement, by an additional period of ten (10) years, the 12 May 2009 deadline, while striving to meet the set deadline;

6. UNDERSCORES the need to speed up the process and to adopt an African common position on this issue;

7. REQUESTS the Commission to engage, in collaboration with Member States, in a process to designate an eminent African personality as Special Envoy of the Union in charge of maritime and climate change matters;

8. CALLS ON the specialized agencies of the United Nations system, to provide the coastal Member States all the assistance required to conduct the necessary studies for submitting applications for the extension of their continental shelf.