Antarctic Treaty Research Articles

The way to the Antarctic Treaty: System of rules in times of global conflict

AbstractIn 1940, a PhD was published in Germany about the claiming behaviour of several countries and the whaling industry in Antarctica. It shows already at this time that a need for regulation on that issue was required. The intertwined relationships between the claiming nations demanded an overarching framework where these complex issues could be managed. This paper elaborates on the state of the claiming parties before the 1940s and will demonstrate that the development for a comprehensive regulation was the only way to avoid a global conflict. The doctoral thesis from 1940 will be the focal point of the discussion.

A changing cultural climate: Realising the value of artists working in Antarctica

AbstractThe ratification of the Antarctic Treaty established a unique construct for human presence and activity in Antarctica. The designation of the continent for peace and science has inspired and informed the work of artists from across the world. This paper explores relationships between the Treaty and contemporary visual artists’ responses to Antarctica. Using data from interviews with scientists, cultural professionals and exhibition audiences, I explore the value to science and society of artists’ presence in Antarctica. I look at why in the last 2 years the number of artists being supported to work in Antarctica has declined and conclude with some observations on how this downward trend might be addressed.

The Antarctic Treaty at Sixty Years: Past, Present and Future

The Antarctic Treaty, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2019, remains as a unique example of an international law instrument that seeks to provide a governance mechanism for a single continent. Both Japan and Australia were original parties to the Antarctic Treaty and have been strong supporters of the Treaty throughout its lifetime. However, in 2019 questions are starting to be raised as to whether a treaty negotiated in 1959 is capable of continuing to provide an appropriate governance framework for Antarctica. These questions relate to the role of the seven Antarctic claimant States, the role of historically prominent non-claimant States such as the United States and the Russian Federation, and the interests of powerful ‘new’ States that are beginning to express a strong interest in polar affairs such as China. This paper assesses whether the Antarctic Treaty is sufficiently robust to address the challenges that confront Antarctic governance in 2019 and into the future. Particular attention will be given to whether it remains possible for Treaty parties to request an Article XII ‘Review Conference’, and also the 1991 Madrid Protocol Article 25 review mechanisms.

Tripartite periodization of the Antarctic Treaty System from a systemic perspective

In 1959, twelve countries with a strong record of interest in Antarctica signed a Treaty allowing accessibility to all signatories wishing to conduct peaceful scientific research. The Antarctic Treaty established science and international cooperation as its cornerstones but raised controversies because of its hosting of sovereignty claims over Antarctic territory. This research aims to fill a gap in literature proposing a strict periodization of the Antarctic Treaty System under a systemic perspective. The paper also examines Brazil's accession into the Treaty. Using as indicators of legitimacy the increase in membership and the transparency of decision-making processes, the author argues that the Antarctic Treaty System has become recognized as a legitimate international regime.

Latin America and the Antarctic Treaty System as a legal regime

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the involvement of Latin America in the legal aspects of the Antarctic Treaty System. Eleven of the twenty Latin American countries are part of at least one of the Antarctic Treaty System legal instruments. Using the information shared by them through the Electronic Information Exchange System run by the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, this paper evaluates the incorporation of the Antarctic Treaty System instruments and agreements in domestic legislation in Latin American states. Additionally, the paper evaluates the domestic rules Latin American states have enacted on Antarctic matters by their own initiative. Some countries, like Chile in first position and Argentina in second position, have well developed legislation related to Antarctic issues, but in other countries it is less developed or less reported. This general assessment reveals the challenges for Latin America in growing its influence in Antarctic governance and in the Antarctic Treaty System as a political-legal regimen.

Latin-American contributions to the creation of the Antarctic regime

ABSTRACT The 60th Anniversary of the signature of the Antarctic Treaty offers an opportunity to revisit interpretations about the process that led to its creation. Argentina and Chile have sometimes been underrated as significant contributors to the design of the Antarctic regime. This could be attributed to the predominance of rationalist theories in International Relations, which disregard the role of minor powers and non-material factors. Nonetheless, the history of Antarctica shows that both countries were pivotal to the creation of this regime. Argentina and Chile were calling for an international agreement for several years, their participation on the tripartite declaration favoured a limited demilitarisation, and Chile’s standstill proposal of 1948 provided a basis for the fundamental article IV. Both countries developed an articulated agenda to neutralise the political effects of the International Geophysical Year and were very active during the Antarctic Treaty negotiations. While they failed in establishing limitations to the freedom of access, they were successful in avoiding any sort of internationalisation and ensuring the freezing of rights and claims thereby helping to guarantee that international collaboration in scientific research could be sustainable in the longer term. Moreover, their participation in the negotiations imposed two key elements of the Antarctic regime’s environmental character: the banning of nuclear explosions and radioactive waste disposal and the introduction of environmental protection as one of the measures to be agreed. As the only Latin-American countries in the Antarctic Treaty negotiations, they were able to establish a common front and form case-specific alliances that reflected a shared perspective for the southern hemisphere. This example suggests that international institutions are not a mere epiphenomenon of the distribution of power in the international system, and rather minor powers can have an endurable effect.

Antarctic governance of biological resources: the Argentine White Genome project

ABSTRACT The purpose of the Antarctic Treaty is to ensure the peaceful use and demilitarisation of the vast Antarctic continent, as well as the corresponding suspension of territorial claims in the region. Aside from managing relations among individual states, the Treaty also encourages scientific collaboration and requires certain kinds of information exchange with a view to reducing the potential for conflicts. A challenge has arisen, however, since the turn of this century, with the increasing search, collection, study, and possible industrial application of biological resources, called bioprospecting. This has become one of the most debated topics at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings. Although bioprospecting is a scientific activity with peaceful and commercial aims, it nonetheless generates disagreements and controversy among participating states across a range of issues, including the access and ownership of genetic resources, scientific information exchange, environmental impact, and the resulting distribution of monetary benefits among actors. This uncertainty leads to the question: can bioprospecting projects be adapted to the principles of Antarctic governance? This study aims to answer that question through an analysis of the ‘Genoma Blanco’ (White Genome) project supported by the Argentine government some years ago. Argentina’s approach to the project combined adherence to national sovereignty principles and compliance with Antarctic governance requirements, thus constituting a singular case within the context of legal ambiguity in which the Treaty still navigates in relation to bioprospecting activities. On the one hand, Argentina supported policies of transparency, providing information about Genoma Blanco activities and discoveries to other Treaty members. On the other hand, it maintained its principles of sovereignty by asserting ownership over resources found and by using research findings as part of its strategic discourse tools towards legitimising Argentina’s permanence in the sector under its own sovereignty claims.

Latin America and Antarctica: new approaches to humanities and social science scholarship

Latin America is a region with extensive connections to Antarctica. Argentina and Chile are claimant nations, and both are original signatories of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty.1 Largely as a result of...

Turning attention to the layered and dispersed access management system of the Antarctic Treaty System

ABSTRACT The ability of the Antarctic Treaty System to adequately address strategic challenges such as the effects of increasing tourism, climate change and geopolitical tensions is being questioned. At the operational level, these challenges involve the mechanisms of getting to and from the continent – mechanisms that are prescribed in the Antarctic Treaty System, but carried out by individual states. This article explores the nature of these access management policies and practices, and demonstrates the importance of understanding them for a resilient Antarctica in the future. It reveals the interrelationship between the concepts of ‘bifocalism’, ‘sovereignty’ and ‘bordering/access management’ in the Antarctic Treaty System, illuminated by examples of New Zealand border and access practices. This article demonstrates that the Antarctic Treaty System operates a dispersed access management system that is akin to state border control systems but largely separate from them. It identifies vulnerabilities and capability gaps in the current arrangements and argues for a new access management agenda to address them.

Оптимізація критеріїв відбору і планування природоохоронних районів Антарктики

The Aim of this piece of research is to generalize the best practices of applying selection criteria, principles and priorities, identified under the legal regime of the Antarctic Treaty System, as well as the development on scientific basis the ways of optimize the further expanding an effective and representative system of the Antarctic Protected Areas. Methodology. The comparative legal method and method of interpretation of the legal norms for the analysis of international legal acts, which form the current environmental regime of the region, have been applied. Additional analysis of the reporting, working and informational materials submitted at the annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, and their working body – the Committee on Environmental Protection, have been made. Results. The definitions of the concept of protected areas in the international and regional contexts, the task and principles of spatial protection and management of the terrestrial and marine environment within the Antarctic Treaty Area are analyzed. The selection criteria of possible protected areas within different categories, as well as environmental risk assessment and feasibility criteria for assessment of possible protected areas are systematized as well. It is shown that further optimization of the development the protected areas network should be carried out by the mean of systematic conservation planning, which allows creating a comprehensive and scientific based regime of complementary areas of special protection and management with the provision of three key principles for area design – comprehensiveness, representativeness, and adequacy. The comprehensiveness means coverage of the both terrestrial and marine environments, as well as areas affected by anthropogenic impact and pristine areas. The representativeness is based on the results of environmental and biogeographical regionalization with the best available spatial data on regional biodiversity. Finally, the adequacy mean the designation the most appropriate category of the area meet the specified environmental objectives – from implementing strict protection, to the definition of multiple-use areas, or the spatial management of specific activities (e.g. fisheries or tourist activities) based on adaptive zoning tools, as well as ecosystem-based management. Conclusions. Obtained conclusions and recommendations could be served as a ground for systematic conservation planning process of designation an effective and comprehensive system of spatial protection and management throughout the whole region of Ukrainian scientific interests in Antarctica.

Ukrainian Antarctic Bibliography: Publications in 2016–2018

Objectives of the study is to monitor the modern national scientific literature on Antarctic research, first of all, as an element of systematic information and bibliographic as well as scientometric support for the implementation of state scientific and technical programs. Methods: bibliographic search, scientometric analysis, bibliometric analysis, webometric analysis, and expert analysis. Ukrainian scientific journals, collections of scientific works and reference editions, scientific reports on projects for the implementation of the State Special-Purpose Research Program in Antarctica for 2011—2020, as well as national (“Scientific Ukraine”, “Bibliometryka of Ukrainian Science”, “Scientific Periodicals of Ukraine”, etc.) and foreign bibliographic databases (Scopus, Google Scholar, e-Library, and others.) were used as the main information source for compiling the bibliography. Results: The article presents the results of a bibliographic search and scientometric analysis of the scientific works of Ukrainian scholars and professionals, published in domestic and foreign editions, as well as in materials of international bodies of the Antarctic Treaty system in 2016—2018. The bibliographic descriptions of 353 publications, the most of which are articles in periodicals (143 descriptions) as well as conference and symposia proceedings (162 descriptions), are given. The bibliometric analysis of the data obtained reveals a stable strong dynamics of the publication activity of Ukrainian researchers and their significant contribution to the world researches of Antarctica. There is a noticeable increase in the number of publications in domestic and foreign scientific editions that are indexed in the bibliographic database Scopus. According to the portal of Scientific Periodicals of Ukraine of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine of the NAS of Ukraine the level of relevance of publications in the Ukrainian Antarctic Journal (2007—2017) is defined. It is revealed that the bibliographic and scientometric articles are included in the top-groups of publications in the journal and have a positive trend of users demand. Conclusions: the list of current bibliography presented in the article complements and continues the bibliography of domestic publications for 2007—2015, which was submitted in previous issues of the Ukrainian Antarctic Journal (in 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2016). The bibliographic descriptions given create a factual basis for the scientometric and expert analysis of development trends and research results of domestic scientists and specialists as well as determination of the contribution of Ukraine to modern Antarctic research. The data obtained indicates the expediency of further implementation of bibliographic support of the State research programs of Ukraine in Antarctica as well as a regular publication of the current and retrospective national Antarctic scientific bibliography.

Assessing tourism patterns in the South Shetland Islands for the conservation of 19th-century archaeological sites in Antarctica

AbstractAlthough archaeological studies focusing on 19th-century sealing have been performed over the past 30 years, its history and sites have traditionally had low visibility in Antarctic narratives and the Antarctic Treaty System policymaking on heritage. Researchers face the challenge of increasing the visibility of sealers’ history and public awareness of the importance of conserving the oldest sites of Antarctica. In this paper, we propose that identifying patterns of tourism activity in the South Shetland Islands, specifically in their temporal and spatial dimensions, could help protect these sites and engage visitors with the early history of Antarctica. Data collected by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators were used to calculate landing point usage trends over time and the frequency of passenger landings from 2003–2004 to 2015–2016. We defined six different visitation patterns with temporal tendencies of passenger landings that varied from increasing, constant, or decreasing trends over time, differing in the magnitude and intensity of visitation. This information was used to assess the situation of particular sites located in the vicinity of tourism landing points. We set priorities for their conservation and management decisions and highlighted their relative potential to engage visitors with the stories of 19th-century sealing in Antarctica.

Antarctic governance in a climate changed world

ABSTRACTThe Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) is regarded as one of the more successful cases of international governance. For nearly 60 years, the ATS has provided the basis for peaceful use of the Antarctica and facilitated international cooperation on scientific research on the continent. The ATS now faces several new challenges largely driven by global environmental change from human activities carried out outside the region. Most prominently, human-induced climate change is impacting the Antarctic cryosphere and marine ecosystems of the Southern Ocean and increasing the scope of human activities in these areas. A key challenge for Antarctic governance will be managing regime interaction between the ATS and the growing number of environmental, resource management and wider regimes operating in the region. Given this institutional complexity, we argue that the concept of an ‘Antarctic regime complex' provides useful insights for understanding interaction between the ATS and other institutions operating within the region. Finally, we conclude that the ATS will likely require a new level of institutional resilience in interacting other regimes within the Antarctic regime complex, as it continues to perform a key role in shaping governance of the region.

The challenges for antarctic governance in the early twenty-first century

From its very creation, management of political tension has been at the heart of the Antarctic governance (Scott 2011). The centerpiece of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), the 1959 Antarctic Trea...

Comparing the robustness and effectiveness of the Antarctic treaty system and the UNFCCC regime

ABSTRACTBoth the UNFCCC governing climate change and the Antarctic Treaty System that governs Antarctica can now be understood as multi-treaty regimes situated within an Antarctic and Southern Ocean regime complex. The theory of Cognitive Structures of Cooperation (CSC Theory) provides a framework within which to analyse normative developments within a regime complex. Using CSC Theory this paper compares the two regimes in terms of robustness and effectiveness, before considering their interaction within the Antarctic and Southern Ocean regime complex. It finds that both have prioritised regime robustness over effectiveness. This is contrary to an assumption implicit in the Paris Agreement – that as the climate change challenge becomes worse, ambition (to increase effectiveness) will increase. For the ATS, the risk of prioritising institutional robustness over effectiveness is ultimately a loss of relevance.

The Antarctic exception: how science and environmental protection provided alternative authority deployment and territoriality in Antarctica

ABSTRACTAntarctica presents an exceptional governance framework. The expansion of sovereignty and territoriality primary institutions demanded a different norm localisation from international society, creating practices and identities unique to the region. In order to preserve peace, delimited territories with exclusive exercise of authority could not be replicated. This conundrum led to the suspension of sovereignty discussions by the Antarctic Treaty, and an emphasis on activities which could accommodate multiple understandings of authority. Scientific research and environmental protection provided the avenue which consolidated the Treaty by reinforcing its exceptional character. Decision-making has been exclusive to Consultative parties, a status awarded for those able to demonstrate substantive scientific research. Likewise, environmental protection has defined Antarctic territorial organisation by creating different protected areas. Nevertheless, joint proposals are still low. Therefore, this work concludes that the institutionalisation of the Antarctic Treaty has stabilised, and concrete cooperation still has a long way to go.

The rise of China and the Antarctic Treaty System?

ABSTRACTThis paper examines three dimensions of China’s rise in Antarctica: (1) history (2) activities; and (3) governance. Historically, China was missing in Antarctic affairs for long time. Over the past four decades, as a reflection of China’s rapid economic growth after the adoption of ‘Open Door' policy, Chinese activities in the Antarctic can be seen as rising, especially in science, fisheries and tourism. Nevertheless, this paper argues that rather than having a secret agenda to pursue, China is still shaping up its general Antarctic policy. China’s capacity to advance its interests within the Antarctic Treaty System is not significant either. After defining what China’s rise in Antarctica is, the paper provides some suggestions regarding Australia’s China strategy in Antarctica in the future.

Our footprint on Antarctica competes with nature for rare ice-free land

Construction and operation of research stations present the most pronounced human impacts on the Antarctic continent across a wide range of environmental values. Despite Antarctic Treaty Parties committing themselves to comprehensive protection of the environment, data on the spatial extent of impacts from their activities have been limited. To quantify this, we examined the area of building and ground disturbance across the entire continent using geographic information system mapping of satellite imagery. Here, we report the footprint of all buildings to be >390,000 m2, with an additional disturbance footprint of >5,200,000 m2 just on ice-free land. These create a visual footprint similar in size to the total ice-free area of Antarctica, and impact over half of all large coastal ice-free areas. Our data demonstrate that human impacts are disproportionately concentrated in some of the most sensitive environments, with consequential implications for conservation management. This high-resolution measurement of the extent of infrastructure across the continent can be used to inform management decisions to balance sustainable scientific use and environmental protection of the Antarctic environment.

A snapshot of biodiversity protection in Antarctica

Threats to Antarctic biodiversity are escalating, despite its remoteness and protection under the Antarctic Treaty. Increasing human activity, pollution, biological invasions and the omnipresent impacts of climate change all contribute, and often combine, to exert pressure on Antarctic ecosystems and environments. Here we present a continent-wide assessment of terrestrial biodiversity protection in Antarctica. Despite Antarctic Specially Protected Areas covering less than 2% of Antarctica, 44% of species (including seabirds, plants, lichens and invertebrates) are found in one or more protected areas. However, protection is regionally uneven and biased towards easily detectable and charismatic species like seabirds. Systematic processes to prioritize area protection using the best available data will maximize the likelihood of ensuring long-term protection and conservation of Antarctic biodiversity.

Statement of Removal

ABSTRACTThe Question of Antarctica, put forward by the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, raised eyebrows amongst the member states of the Antarctic Treaty in 1982. The criticism, which challenged many aspects of the way Antarctica was governed during that time, was accepted as an agenda item of the 38th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1983. This paper aims to discuss the evolution of the Malaysian outlook on Antarctica, which began antagonistically, but eventually joined the system it had previously criticised. Malaysia makes an interesting case study due to not only its non-claimant and non-member status, but also because it is a tropical country, with good relative distance from the South Pole and seemingly no justification for ‘interference’ in Antarctic matters in the 1980s. The paper will discuss Malaysia’s evolution from being the strongest critic of the Antarctic Treaty in 1983 to that of a state working towards becoming an Antarctic Treaty Consultative Party (ATCP). Besides that, it will also study possible future scenarios for Malaysia’s engagement in Antarctic matters.