Submission will open up new areas for exploration, conservation and development

TheCommonwealth Secretariat will assist the Republic of Maldives in makinga submission to secure access to extensive additional areas of seabed.

Inaccordance with international law, Maldives is required to make asubmission to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of theContinental Shelf (‘the Commission’). The Secretariat is providingadvice and assistance during the preparation of this submission, whichis expected to be completed by September 2010.

Theprocess will open up new areas for exploration, conservation anddevelopment - and Maldives will be in a position to manage importantnatural and living resources of the seabed. This includes potentiallylucrative oil, gas and mineral deposits, as well as living sedentarymarine organisms.

Mozambiquewill become the latest country to receive assistance from theCommonwealth Secretariat to prepare a claim for additional areas ofseabed.

To date, the Secretariat has helped 14 countriesto lodge submissions for additional areas of continental shelfcovering, in total, over 1.5 million square kilometers of seabed

Inorder to claim additional areas, Mozambique must make a submission tothe United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

The Arctic Ocean could be largely ice-free and opento shipping during the summer in as little as ten years' time, a toppolar specialist has said.

"It's like man is taking the lidoff the northern part of the planet," said Professor Peter Wadhams,from the University of Cambridge.

Professor Wadhams has been studying the Arctic ice since the 1960s.

He was speaking in central London at the launch of the findings of the Catlin Arctic Survey.

The expedition trekked across 435km of ice earlier this year.

Ledby explorer Pen Hadow, the team's measurements found that the ice-floeswere on average 1.8m thick - typical of so-called "first year" iceformed during the past winter and most vulnerable to melting.

African parliamentarians meeting in Nairobi ahead of the UNclimate change conference in Copenhagen have vowed to voice a commonposition against the harsh environmental conditions brought by climatechange.

The conference, which brings together 15 countries including fivespeakers, is also expected to rally African countries to demand for anequitable post in the 2012 Climate Change Agreement.

The two-day conference that kicked off Tuesday in Nairobi wasofficially opened by President Mwai Kibaki under the theme: ‘Towards aCommon Position on Climate Justice and Equity.’

Kibaki implored the lawmakers to draft a common position that would actas the bargaining power in challenging the West against producing greenhouse gases. “We need a greater commitment in fighting the green housegases, reducing carbon emissions through our policies and dailyactions.”