The applicability of international conservation instruments to the establishment of marine protected areas in Antarctica

Abstract

This paper reviews the international conservation treaties, non-binding agreements and other instruments that have relevance to marine protected area (MPA) development in Antarctica. Many of these provide for action to be taken globally, thus including Antarctica within the scope of a worldwide system of MPAs. However, depending on their specific provisions, full application in Antarctic waters may be difficult, inappropriate or even impossible because of the area's unique political situation, existing regimes and differing “positions of principle” between claimant and non-claimant States with regard to the existence of territorial sovereignty and corresponding maritime zones. It is concluded that although direct application of other international conservation agreements is in most cases unlikely to be feasible, efforts should be made to apply within the Antarctic Treaty System certain principles and requirements agreed under instruments with global purview. These include the formulation of guidelines and criteria for MPA establishment, the consideration of marine protection as a separate, but linked, issue to protection of other environments, and the development of more specific guidelines on the timeframe in which these should take place.