CPLP Earth and Sea Measures

The presentation of the Note "Measures of the Earth and the Sea of the CPLP", by the author, Commander Miguel Bessa Pacheco, took place at the Solemn Opening Session of the 2nd Conference of Hydrography of the CPLP, on November 6, in Mindelo, Cape Verde.

This point stemmed from a very specific motivation dating back to the 1st CPLP Hydrography Conference, held in 2022 at the Hydrographic Institute in Portugal. The creation of this document was one of the 38 actions agreed among the participants, and the objective was to be completed by the next conference.

The author highlighted the following conclusions of the work:

• Brazil, with its vast continental extension, is the country with the largest area in terms of absolute sea and land spaces;
• The archipelagic states of Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe stand out for the large size of their maritime spaces in comparison to land;
• The CPLP is geographically, both on land (2.6 times) and at sea (1.4 times), larger than the European Union in its continental space;
• Overall, the territory of the CPLP countries covers approximately 7.3% of the world's territory, and its maritime spaces represent about 5.6% of the maritime spaces under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the coastal countries of the world.

Commander Bessa Pacheco stressed that this Statement is an open document, as there are still ongoing processes concerning the extension of continental platforms and the delimitation of certain maritime borders. These processes will take years to complete, and when the time comes, a review of this book will be necessary to update.

He concluded that the coherence of the numbers and the credibility of the discourse are fundamental to strengthen the arguments in defense of the common interests of the CPLP countries. More than a technical document, this book will provide the political component of the CPLP countries with duly substantiated data and statistics to support the support of national and Community policies.

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