By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

President Remengesau has recently issued an Executive Order that would create a task force to look into Palau’s extended continental shelf.
EO No. 243, which was signed by the President on Oct. 4 and submitted to Congress on Oct. 5, is to make an official claim under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to its 87,000 square kilometers of territory beyond its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. Such claim is for both economic and environmental reasons.
The task force would be composed of the following: one appointed by the President, the Minister of Resources and Development or designee, the Minister of State or designee, the Minister of Finance or designee, the Attorney General or designee, the National Environmental Planner or designee, the Program Manager of Palau Automated Land and Resource Information System (PALARIS) or designee and other members as determined necessary by the Task Force.
The initial Chair would be MRD’s Fritz Koshiba until after the Task Force elects a permanent Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary/Treasurer at its initial meeting.
To be known as the ECSTF (Extended Continental Shelf Task Force), it is to provide supervisory authority, guidelines, instructions and support to its Study Team in the performance of its assigned tasks.
ECSTF would review, evaluate, approve and submit for final approval to the President, proposals designed to source technical assistance and project financing from Palau’s bilateral development partners or from regional or international donor agencies or organizations needed for the development of Extended Continental Shelf Study (ECSS).
This would include the development, formulation and completion of a hydrographic and geoscientific surveying and mapping of Palau’s extended continental shelf margin as required by UNCLOS.
The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLS) under Article 76 of the UNCLOS has set a deadline of May 13, 2009 for countries to make submission for a claim to their extended continental shelf.
A Desk Top Study (DTS) was commissioned on behalf of Palau by the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) regarding the publicly available geological and geophysical data supporting a submission by Palau for a continental shelf territory beyond its current 200 mile EEZ.
The task force would also investigate and pursue the possibility of jointly working with Japan in the development of ECSS for submission to the UN.