[Book Review] Sea level changes and maritime boundaries : shifting baselines and maritime spaces

Abstract

Reading this book reminded me of the interesting delineation of the frontier between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Guinea: one of the world’s only nine populated islands divided between two countries. The frontier is an unequivocal straight line, running from north to south, slicing the island in two. But, what to do with a pesky and meandering river around the centre of this straight line? This is the stretch where the parties have agreed that the frontier shall follow the thalweg (the centre of the river course) of the Fly River. Hence, we have here a combination of a hard border, specified by longitude and latitude; and a boundary, which is liable to change and shapeshifting, as rivers are wont to do.