Philippine (Benham) Rise
Philippine (Benham) Rise
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20170516-EO-25-RRD.pdfOn 16 May 2017, Former President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 25 renaming the Benham Rise to Philippine Rise. In 2018, he also signed Presidential Proclamation No. 489, declaring Benham Bank and its surrounding waters a Marine Resource Reserve under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act.
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/201...
What is the Philippine Rise?
What is the Philippine Rise?
It was previously known as the Benham Rise. It was named after an American geologist Andrew Benham who surveyed the area around the 1930s.
It is a natural submarine prolongation of the Luzon Island extending up to 318nm or 589km from the Eastern Philippine Seaboard facing the Pacific Ocean. It is comprised of 200nm continental shelf from the baselines of Luzon and the extension of the seabed and subsoil approximately up to 118 nm beyond the legal continental shelf limits.
The Philippine Claim to an Extended Continental Shelf
The Philippine Claim to an Extended Continental Shelf
On 8 April 2009, the Republic of the Philippines submitted its claim to an Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), in accordance with Article 76, paragraph 8, of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), information on the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured in the Benham Rise region. After series of deliberations, the commission adopted the Philippine submission by consensus on 12 April 2012.
The Rights and Jurisdiction accorded to the Philippines in the Extended Continental Shelf
The Rights and Jurisdiction accorded to the Philippines in the Extended Continental Shelf
The Philippines exercises exclusive sovereign rights to explore and exploit the mineral and other non-living resources, including sedentary species found on its continental shelf.
The Philippines exercises exclusive jurisdiction over the following activities on the continental shelf: Construction of artificial islands, installations and structures, and drilling, including tunneling.
Marine Biodiversity and Resources in the Philippine Rise
Marine Biodiversity and Resources in the Philippine Rise
The Benham bank is the shallowest point of the Philippine Rise which is rich in marine biodiversity such as reefscapes that contain corals, algae, sponges and Halimeda (algae) that sustain a variety of fish species such as tuna and billfish species. The Philippine Rise may also contain Valuable seabed resources like cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, hydrothermal polymetallic sulfides, and gas hydrates.
Video courtesy of Oceana Philippines
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