An Overview of the Antarctic Treaty System and Applicable New Zealand Law

The Antarctic Treaty 1959 has now been in place for 60 years and is regarded by informed commentators as one of the most successful multi-party international treaty systems. This paper provides an opportunity to look back and take stock of previous success, and more importantly, an opportunity to assess the future prospects of the treaty system. New Zealand has played a key role in the Antarctic Treaty system and has had a long involvement with Antarctica since accepting the transfer of sovereignty over the Ross Dependency in 1923. This paper therefore focuses on the effectiveness of the Antarctic Treaty system through a New Zealand lens.

Blue Ice, Meteorites, Fossil Penguins and Rare Minerals: The Case for Enhanced Protection of Antarctica’s Unique Geoheritage – An International Legal Analysis

Its isolation and extreme climate means Antarctica is one of the world’s richest regions for untouched geoheritage. The potential of mining in Antarctica is often talked of in public discourse as a future threat to Antarctica even though the prohibition on mining is absolute and is likely to stay so indefinitely. As such mining does not pose a realistic threat to Antarctica’s geoheritage. The impacts of scientific research and tourism pose more pressing challenges to Antarctica’s geoheritage. This paper considers emerging debates in the Antarctic Treaty System on the need for further protection of Antarctica’s geoheritage. After considering the concept of geoheritage the paper considers key threats to Antarctic geoheritage. The role of Antarctic Specially Protected Area system in the protection of Antarctica’s geoheritage is then considered as is the draft code of conduct on geosciences field research currently being developed within the Antarctic Treaty System. The final part of the paper then goes on to examine how the Antarctic Treaty system could in part draw on the experience of other international initiatives, including the frameworks associated with the UNESCO Global Geoparks movement in developing an Antarctic System for protection of geoheritage.

Legal Issues concerning DROMLAN under the Antarctic Treaty System

The purpose of this paper is to explore possible legal issues concerning the Dronning Maud Land Air Network (DROMLAN) under the Antarctic Treaty system. By examining the recent discussion concerning DROMLAN within the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and relevant State practice, this paper argues that States parties have difficulty in fully complying with the obligations of advanced notice under Article VII (5) of the Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Impact Assessment under Article VIII (2) of the Madrid Protocol for DROMLAN’s operation. Finally, this paper suggests that good communication among relevant States parties and private actors is important for enhancing compliance with these obligations.

Exploitation of Antarctic Iced Freshwater: A Call To Unfreeze Legal Discourse

While discussed within the Antarctic Treaty System during the 1970s-1980s, the idea of iceberg harvesting was laid on ice due to the lack of adequate technologies and scientific knowledge on the potential environmental implications. However, the State Parties to the ATS envisioned the possibility of reopening the legal discourse. For that purpose, iced freshwater resources exploitation was excluded from the scope of the Madrid Protocol containing a ban on all mineral mining activities within the scope ratione loci of the ATS. However, during the negotiations, it was agreed that if the prospect of iceberg harvesting was ever to be realised, the environmental protection provisions under the Madrid Protocol should apply. The present paper provides an analysis of whether the potential exploitation of iced freshwater resources proves realistic within the existing legal framework under the Antarctic Treaty System and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and discusses which rules States would need to adhere to when engaging in such activities. It arrives at the conclusion that, as to now, there is no prohibition of iceberg harvesting for freshwater use under international law. Nevertheless, both within the scope of the ATS and in the high seas, environmental regulations restrict the implementation of the activity and, therefore, require comprehensive environmental impact assessments to be conducted before the commencement of the activity. Furthermore, as ownership allocation of icebergs is not regulated under the relevant treaties, the present paper examines two legal regimes that may potentially govern iceberg acquisition in the high seas, namely, res nullius and res communis. Finally, as private efforts have become more far-reaching in the recent decades, an overview of the current state of practice is presented, highlighting the observed advantages and potential drawbacks. Conclusively, the present paper advocates for the reopening of the legal discourse on the subject matter before the commencement of exploitation activities so as to ensure that the fragile Antarctic environment is protected and preserved for the benefit of all humankind in accordance with the object and purpose of the ATS.

An international hierarchy of science: conquest, cooperation, and the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System

The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), created in 1959 to govern the southern continent, is often lauded as an illustration of science’s potential to inspire peaceful and rational International Relations. This article critically examines this optimistic view of science’s role in international politics by focusing on how science as a global hierarchical structure operated as a gatekeeper to an exclusive Antarctic club. I argue that in the early 20th century, the conduct of science in Antarctica was entwined with global and imperial hierarchies. As what Mattern and Zarakol call a broad hierarchy, science worked both as a civilized marker of international status as well as a social performance that legitimated actors’ imperial interests in Antarctica. The 1959 ATS relied on science as an existing broad hierarchy to enable competing states to achieve a functional bargain and ‘freeze’ sovereignty claims, whilst at the same time institutionalizing and reinforcing the legitimacy of science in maintaining international inequalities. In making this argument, I stress the role of formal international institutions in bridging our analysis of broad and functional hierarchies while also highlighting the importance of scientific hierarchies in constituting the current international order.

Problems of The Antarctic Treaty System (Political and Legal Aspects)

The article considers the key factors that affect the stability of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), erode its basic norms and provisions, lead to strengthening of political and legal contradictions between countries and, in general, to a prospective strengthening of interstate conflicts. Among those factors are the attempts of some claimant states to form maritime zones of sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the Antarctic waters and the process of defining the outer limits of the continental shelf within the framework of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf initiated by them. The author shows how justifying their actions with references to the rights and powers granted to them under modern international maritime law, and above all the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, leads to an imbalance of the entire System. The unresolved questions concerning the applicability of the concept of common heritage of mankind (CCH) to the Antarctic, the legality of the formation of maritime zones around the sub-Antarctic islands and restrictions on the exercise of national jurisdiction on the continent itself increase pressure on the sustainability of the established legal regime. It is in the interests of the Russian Federation not to allow the complete destruction of the established system of governance, and if it is inevitable, to be ready to pursue an active policy to defend its national interests.