Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
continental shelf delimitation, raises not only issues pertaining to exploitation but also
conservation on the marine seabed. The non-recognition of continental claims, alongside the
provisions of Article IV of the Antarctic Treaty, means that claimant and non-claimant states
alike keenly scrutinize any issue pertaining to either exploitation or protection/conservation.
Developed in the aftermath of the ill-fated CRAMRA negotiations, the Protocol's
emergence came at a point in time when it was increasingly recognized that present (and
future) resource-related challenges are ending Antarctica's isolation from the wider world.
The paradox facing those seeking to protect the Antarctic, including its wilderness qualities,
is rooted in the fact that we have an enormous area, with little obvious evidence of human
presence, being increasingly drawn into networks of human activity including but not
restricted to resource exploitation and conservation. Over the decades, sealing, whaling,
fishing, mineral exploitation, and biological prospecting present challenges not only to the
contested politics of Antarctic sovereignty but also to attempts to manage sustainably. As
past episodes of sealing and whaling demonstrate, there is always a capacity for the
commons, in this case the Antarctic, to be a tragic case.
Summary
The Antarctic is increasingly facing environmental and resource-related challenges. While
we consider the challenges posed by climate change, ozone depletion, and pollution
elsewhere, we should note the cumulative impact of resource exploitation in particular. As
scholars have warned for decades, in the absence of rules and regulations, there is always a
danger that common resource spaces such as the Antarctic and the high seas will be
exploited in an unsustainable manner. Seals and whales bore the brunt of that impulse in the
19th and 20th centuries, and illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing causes
contemporary alarm in the Southern Ocean. Balancing initiatives to enhance environmental
protection with ongoing and future-orientated resource interests is one of the key challenges
facing those managing the Antarctic.
The rejection of CRAMRA in the late 1980s did not mean that mineral resource interests in
the Antarctic disappeared. The Protocol bans all forms of mineral exploitation, and does so
as long as all parties (including third parties) respect those provisions. While no one expects
mining to commence any time soon, the interest shown by coastal states with regard to the
extended continental shelf suggests that resource exploitation remains a topic of interest,
however remote it might be in the future. Whether promoting fishing interests or seeking to
circumvent whaling, claimant states such as Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and the
United Kingdom all retain a keen interest in the resource potential of their territories
including the Australiansgovernment Antarctic sectors.
