The 1991 UN session: the environmental protocol fails to satisfy the Antarctic Treaty System's critics

Polar Record ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (167) ◽  
pp. 307-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment

ABSTRACT1991 saw the ninth successive United Nations (UN) discussion on the ‘Question of Antarctica.’ The adoption of two more resolutions critical of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), including South African participation therein, reaffirmed the unchanging nature of the UN episode and the lack of consensus on the management of Antarctica. Key developments affecting Antarctica continue to occur away from New York: during 1990—91 the negotiations conducted at Vifia del Mar and Madrid for the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (PREP) and the measures agreed at the Bonn Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting proved the point. The critics of the ATS were appeased by neither PREP and its mining prohibition nor the recent dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa.Two UN reports were published on the state of the Antarctic environment as well as the proposed establishment of a UNsponsored research station in Antarctica. One resolution adopted in December 1991 called for annual UN reports on the Antarctic environment, although fiscal and other considerations meant that the research station proposal was effectively shelved. Another resolution urged South African exclusion from ATS meetings. The tenth annual UN discussion on Antarctica is scheduled for the close of 1992. There exists growing evidence that the critical campaign is losing momentum, although it seems premature to anticipate Antarctica's imminent demise as an UN agenda topic.

Antarctica, Viña del Mar and the 1990 UN debate

Polar Record ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 27 (162) ◽  
pp. 211-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New York ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
International Research ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Research Station ◽  
30Th Anniversary ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThe Xlth Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting in Viña del Mar, Chile (19 November to 6 December 1990) aired the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties' views on conservation, following the collapse of support for the minerals convention. Almost simultaneously at the United Nations Assembly in New York, the eighth successive annual discussion on Antarctica included the usual critique of the Treaty System's political and legal framework. The conservationist emphasis apparent in 1989 continued in 1990, accompanied by an attack on Antarctic science. Particular emphasis was placed on adverse environmental impacts from the crowding together of scientific stations. Treaty parties countered with their long-standing opposition to UN interference in Treaty matters. Resolutions on Antarctica sought to exclude South Africa from ATS activities and to consider the establishment of a UN international research station. The 1990 discussions showed that the Treaty System at its 30th anniversary fails to enjoy universal support, and contributed to an emerging debate on the merits of Antarctic science.

The United Nations and Antarctica, 1996: maintaining consensus towards the millennium

Polar Record ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 34 (188) ◽  
pp. 39-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
The State ◽  
Consensus Approach ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Scientific Questions ◽  
Antarctic Environment

AbstractThe thirteenth UN session on the ‘Question of Antarctica,’ held at the close of 1996, saw the reaffirmation of the consensus approach restored in 1994. One brief session of the First Committee, followed by the General Assembly's adoption of resolution A51/56 without a vote, signified the continued acceptance by UN members, including Antarctic Treaty Parties (ATPs), of the benefits of an agreed approach towards the ‘Question of Antarctica.’ Resolution A51/56, acknowledging the broader international community's interest in the continent, marked the ATPs' willingness to allow a limited UN role in Antarctica. UN members, identifying the merits of further research on environmental and scientific questions, pressed the case for a comprehensive report on the state of the Antarctic environment, as discussed at recent Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings. The ‘Question of Antarctica,’ having moved from annual to biennial UN discussions in 1994, has now been put on a three-year cycle; thus, it will not be placed on the UN agenda again until the close of 1999.

The Déjà vu System of International Trusteeship in Continental Antarctica: A Textual Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-131
Author(s):  
Xueping Li
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Continental Antarctica ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Deja Vu ◽  
Déjà Vu ◽  
The Antarctic

In the name of environmental protection, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting seems to have borrowed the paradigm of international trusteeship of the United Nations for managing the Antarctic land-based protected areas. By comparing and analysing the critical questions highly concerned, this paper offers preliminary thoughts on the development and refinement of the conception of land-based protected areas as a déjà vu system of international trusteeship and its surrounding legal applications and implications in continental Antarctica, and challenges the direction followed by this system in protecting Antarctic intrinsic values in legal discourse.

The United Nations and Antarctica 1993: continuing controversy about the UN's role in Antarctica

Polar Record ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (175) ◽  
pp. 257-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Significant Advance ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Recognition ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

ABSTRACTThe eleventh successive annual United Nations discussion on the ‘Question of Antarctica’ took place at the close of 1993. In November the UN First Committee, guided by two reports from the UN Secretary-General, adopted a further resolution, which was adopted in December by the General Assembly as resolution A48/80. As usual, UN members, although displaying evidence of a wider international recognition of the regime's merits, proved critical of the Antarctic Treaty System. By contrast, Antarctic Treaty Parties (ATPs) remained reluctant to allow the UN the type of role in Antarctica advocated by their critics. ATPs, following the course adopted in 1985, still refused either to participate in the UN discussions or to vote. As a result, it proved impossible yet again to secure a consensus about either the ‘Question of Antarctica’ in general or the UN's role in Antarctica in particular. One significant advance in 1993 concerned the end of demands advanced since 1985 for South Africa's exclusion from Antarctic meetings, a change prompted by the dismantlement of the apartheid regime. The ‘Question of Antarctica’ is scheduled to be placed on the UN agenda in 1994.

New Trends in the Protection of the Antarctic Environment: The 1991 Madrid Protocol

1992 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. N. Blay
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Resource ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment

In June 1991, the Antarctic Treaty states, meeting in Madrid, Spain, approved the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol). The Protocol was adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties and opened for signature on October 4, 1991. Negotiated over a three-year period, the Protocol, together with its annexes, is the most comprehensive multilateral document ever adopted on the international protection of the environment. It promises to be a significant blueprint for preserving the Antarctic. An ironic feature of the Protocol is that, while it bans mining in Antarctica, it had its origins in the 1988 Convention for the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA), which permitted mining.

Another sterile annual ritual? The United Nations and Antarctica 1987

Polar Record ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 24 (150) ◽  
pp. 207-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
United Nations ◽  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
The Future ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Future Management ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

AbstractThe UN Secretary-General's third Report of September 1987 provided the background for the fifth annual round of the UN's consideration of the ‘Question of Antarctica’. The First Committee's discussions in November 1987 resulted in the adoption by large majorities of two further UN resolutions in favour of a moratorium on the Antarctic minerals regime negotiations, an enhanced UN role in the operations of the Antarctic Treaty System, and the exclusion of South Africa from Consultative Meetings. On the surface, the session might be dismissed as yet another ‘sterile annual UN ritual’, serving to confirm the international community's lack of consensus about the future management of Antarctica. In reality, the episode, suggesting that the UN/Antarctic relationship may be at the crossroads, offered several points of interest, including increased signs of strain within the Antarctic Treaty System consequent upon the South African issue, and a greater appreciation by the critics of the need to work for change within the framework of the existing Antarctic Treaty regime.

The United Nations and Antarctica 1986

Polar Record ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 23 (147) ◽  
pp. 683-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
United Nations ◽  
South African ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

AbstractIn November 1986 the United Nations considered again the ‘Question of Antarctica’ and published a further study, up-dating and developing that produced in 1984 and guiding UN First Committee discussions of 18–19 November 1986. Three resolutions were adopted concerning availability of information to the UN on Antarctica, a moratorium on the Antarctic minerals regime negotiations, and the exclusion of South Africa as a Consulative Party. Most Antarctic Treaty parties did not vote; the consensus that characterized UN debates on Antarctica in 1983 and 1984 has yet to be restored. The 1986 session suggested more questions rather than providing answers; a key question is whether the Antarctic Treaty System will preserve its unity in view of the problem of continuing South African membership.

Oiled wildlife response for Antarctica: Practical and realistic solutions

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 1559-1568
Author(s):  
Michael Short
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Contingency Plans ◽  
Antarctic Marine ◽  
Station Base ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment

ABSTRACT Through the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection all of the Antarctic member nations are required to have in place contingency plans for oil spills including oiled wildlife response. The current risks for marine pollution incidents to the Antarctic environment include refuelling activities associated with Antarctic stations/bases; routine station/base activities; and shipping associated with stations/bases, tourism, commercial fishing and whaling. Between 1981 and 2011 there have been reported 33 spills or near spill incidents associated with the Antarctic marine environment. Wildlife at risk from oil spills include seabirds (flying birds and penguins), pinnipeds and cetaceans. Antarctic and polar environments both provide a number of logistical and practical complications given their climatic and geographic character. The key elements for response actions for Antarctic wildlife identified are divided amongst primary, secondary and tertiary oiled wildlife response activities. Primary activities identified include focussing containment and clean up efforts to protecting wildlife as a priority using tools such as sensitivity mapping, stochastic and real time modelling. Secondary activities specific to individual wildlife groups were identified and included specialised hazing, exclusion and pre-emptive capture mechanisms focussed to the Antarctic environment. Tertiary activities are considered with regards to the real capacity of Antarctic stations to respond, take and rehabilitate oiled wildlife given the Antarctic environment and its limitations. The paper identifies realistic mechanisms and systems considering the climatic, logistical and practical issues of the Antarctic environment. Although specific to Antarctic bases the paper outcomes can be equally applied to other polar environments.

The Antarctic Committee for Environmental Protection: past, present, and future

Polar Record ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodolfo Andrés Sánchez ◽  
Ewan McIvor
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
New Era ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment

ABSTRACTThe Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) was established under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty to advise the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) on matters relating to protection of the Antarctic environment. After almost a decade of work, the committee has consolidated itself as a highly relevant and important component of the Antarctic Treaty system. Through a detailed analysis of meeting reports, as well as first-hand information and experience, this study describes the activities of the CEP during its first nine years of operation, provides likely explanations for some trends observed and proposes future scenarios by highlighting major challenges and opportunities. In particular, the instigation of strategic planning shows potential for launching a new era of CEP activities focused on the environmental issues requiring the greatest attention. This overview will assist readers to understand the role of the CEP as the main environmental advisor to the ATCM, and the reasons for the Antarctic Treaty parties to support the Committee's work to foster a spirit of cooperation as a prerequisite for continuing protection of the Antarctic environment.

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