Managing the frozen commons - Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent - page 284

Antarctic Handbook , which for years was updated by a dedicated delegate. So it
stands to reason that this system was not easy for new nations to use, even if
the old-timers did their best to help them along.
By July 2012, an additional 16 nations had attained consultative status, starting
with Poland in 1977, and an additional 22 had acceded to the Treaty as non-
consultative parties, the latest being Pakistan. So now the total number of Parties
to the Treaty is 49. It is noticeable that around two-thirds of the global population
lives in the nations that have signed up to the Antarctic Treaty. Large countries
such as Brazil, China and India as well as many European and South American
nations became consultative parties during the 1980s. At present the most populous
countries outside the Treaty are Indonesia and Nigeria. Malaysia acceded to the
Treaty as the

first Muslim country in 2011, but with only one African country
and no Arab states the membership is still not representative of the world's
cultural diversity.
To become an ATCP a country has to ful l Article IX, which states that an

acceding country is a consultative party during such times as that Contracting

Party demonstrates its interest in Antarctica by conducting substantial research
activity there, such as the establishment of a scienti

'

c station or the dispatch of a

scienti . The reasoning behind this was that the Antarctic region is such

an exceptional part of the globe that to participate in decisions on its management,
a party should be directly experienced in operations there through its own activities
and able to demonstrate that it can make a substantive addition to scienti

c expedition '

c
knowledge. However, there is no doubt that the interpretation of how to apply
article IX has changed over the years. In the 1970s the establishment of a year-round
station ful lled the requirement but over the years the interpretation has shifted to

accepting any substantial research on Antarctic issues, even without establishing
stations or sending expeditions.
Some have argued that the desire of minimising environmental
impacts argues for reducing human presence in Antarctica, including that
of scientists. Thus, future research should be based not on sending more expeditions,
but rather on cooperation using present infrastructure, and on investigations not
involving Antarctic field studies. However, this argument does not take into account

that, compared with other parts of the world, the Antarctic is still very much ' under-

investigated , so that the main problem is not too many scientists, but rather not

enough! Such an approach would also reduce the possibility of gaining new
knowledge, e.g. from geologic structures not yet visited.
At the same time everybody agrees that duplicating infrastructure should be
avoided, and that operations should constantly strive for a minimal environmental
footprint. No other regions have such strict environmental standards as those now
in operation in Antarctica. Over the years, a great variety of environmental issues
have found resolution, such as establishing various types of protected areas,

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