Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
authority' enabling territorial control. Scientific interest in the relationship between climate
change and ice sheets provided the public justification for the multi-national NSBX in the
early 1950s even if there was a covert territorial rationale.
Science and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty
The Antarctic Treaty notes that the Antarctic is a place in which scientific investigation
should prevail. The preamble to the treaty is explicit in this regard - science is linked to the
progress of mankind more generally. As the preamble notes:
Convinced
that the establishment of a firm foundation for the continuation and development
of such cooperation on the basis of freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica as
applied during the International Geophysical Year accords with the interests of science and
the progress of all mankind.
The highlighting of the word 'convinced' is indicative of the general conceit of the treaty
and its genesis. Article II of the Treaty enshrines the principle of freedom of scientific
research, and Article III promotes the free exchange of scientific information and research
personnel, with due emphasis given to transparency and openness with regard to
expeditionary movement in and out of the Antarctic. Article VII established a system of
inspection in relation to all scientific stations, aircraft, and ships operating in the polar
region. Science was considered to be the mechanism par excellence for confidence-building
and the reinforcement of norms among the original signatories to the Antarctic Treaty.
Science and scientific operations remains prioritized, as Secretary Clinton might note,
within the Antarctic Treaty System, even if the range of interested parties has widened in the
intervening period (1961-2011). With the entry into force of the 1991 Protocol on
Environmental Protection, for example, scientific-related activity is exempted from the strict
rules concerning interference with Antarctic wildlife and access to areas judged to be
ecologically vulnerable. For new members seeking to join the ATS, it is Antarctic science
rather than participation within Antarctic fishing and/or tourism that determines whether,
under the terms of Article XI of the Antarctic Treaty, a country might be admitted into the
membership. In a deliberate attempt to limit the potential membership, countries aspiring to
consultative party status needed to show evidence of 'substantial scientific activity'. In the
1990s, after criticism about the replication of research stations and over-concentration of
scientific activity in the more accessible Antarctic Peninsula region, the demand was relaxed
that aspiring consultative parties establish a permanent territories including the Australian
