Canary Islands and the foreseeable expansion of its continental shelf: The difficult balance between Spain, Morocco and Western Sahara

Abstract

The article analyzes the legal, political and economic factors that condition the expansion of the continental shelf of the Canary Islands in its southern zone. Morocco has announced its intention to carry out a similar expansion that would include the waters of Western Sahara, a non-autonomous territory pending decolonization over which Morocco does not hold sovereignty. Both expansions would create an overlapping area of difficult delimitation that compromises the exploitation of the natural resources found there.