exclusive economic zone

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a maritime zone established under UNCLOS extending 200 nautical miles from a coastal state's baseline within which the state has sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources of the waters, seabed, and subsoil, as well as jurisdiction over marine scientific research and the protection of the marine environment; the EEZ concept was a major innovation of UNCLOS, allocating to coastal states exclusive rights over the vast majority of the world's commercially valuable fisheries and offshore oil and gas resources while preserving freedom of navigation for ships and aircraft of other states; disputes over overlapping EEZ claims — particularly in the South China Sea, where China's expansive claims conflict with those of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan — are among the most significant sources of geopolitical tension in contemporary international relations