Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Each Contracting Party which has become a party to the present Treaty by accession under
Article XIII shall be entitled to appoint representatives to participate in the meetings
referred to in paragraph 1 of the present Article, during such times as that Contracting Party
demonstrates its interest in Antarctica by conducting substantial research activity there, such
as the establishment of a scientific station or the dispatch of a scientific expedition.
Consultative parties such as the Netherlands have never established a permanent research
station in the Antarctic, for example.
Antarctic science is a form of symbolic capital within the ATS, with value in subtle and not
so subtle forms. In the 1980s, for example, it was not uncommon to read criticism of some
national Antarctic programmes for their poor scientific productivity and staffing levels of
research stations, with particular ire aimed at Argentina and Chile due to their over-
representation of military personnel. When British scientists and administrators made such
criticism, in the aftermath of the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas War, it is not difficult to see how
this critique might be seen as geopolitically self-serving. Given the persistence of
overlapping claims in the Antarctic Peninsula region, it suited British interests to highlight
the gulf in scientific productivity and to note that the UK, along with the US, Germany, and
Australia, were some of the most productive consultative parties in the ATS in terms of
peer-reviewed Antarctic science. The quality of British science has long been used as a
marker of its validity compared to the quantity provided by others, including allies - British
polar administrator Brian Roberts complained in the early 1950s that American expeditions
such as High Jump were not a patch on the 'useful' and 'unostentatious' work by the
modestly funded Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. Such scientific credentials
contribute greatly to wider influence within the ATS and play a part in consolidating the
scientific budgets of operators such as British Antarctic Survey, which received a funding
boost post-Falklands conflict.
Science as a tool of national strategy remains undisturbed by the provisions of the Antarctic
Treaty and associated legal instruments, notwithstanding demands for international
collaboration, inspection, and information exchange. All seven of the claimant states
maintain permanent research stations in their sectors, and geographically concentrate
scientific activity. They are able to do so in part because others contribute knowledge and
understanding in other areas of the Antarctic - even if concerns have been raised about why
so many research stations are located in the Antarctic Peninsula region compared to the
polar interior.
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