Countries claiming territory in Antarctica have a dilemma — the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 puts all claims on hold, defines the continent as a nature reserve and bans any mining or drilling for oil and gas until at least 2048.
But a separate U.N. treaty on the Law of the Sea has set a May 2009 deadline for most coastal states around the world to map the outer limits of their continental shelves to decide once and for who owns the seabed — and rights to any offshore minerals.
So that puts claimants to Antarctica -- Argentina, Australia, Britain, Chile, France, New Zealand and Norway — in a bind. Can they map the seabed off the slices of Antarctica they claim without seeming to make a new demand for territory in violation of the Antarctic Treaty?
One sensible-sounding idea is for all nations to set aside their differences (Argentina, Chile and Britain have overlapping claims in Antarctica), and to collect and submit the data together.
”It would be comfortable to the commission if Antarctica claimants got together and made a joint submission,” Alexandre Albuquerque, a Brazilian official who chairs the U.N. commission defining the seabed, told me by e-mail, adding it was up to the coastal states themselves to decide.
So far Australia has submitted data and told Albuquerque’s commission not to act on it. New Zealand says it won’t submit data now but reserves the right to do so in future. Others are undecided.
What should countries do?
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Good question, and good report. And once again, third day in a row, your article was on the top of the features page with photo inside the China Post daily in Taiwan. They carried all your stories from TROLL station, top of page, all week. The editor there must be awake!
As for the question: yes, the nations involved should pool data, unite and work together on this. This is the time for unity, not division….
- Posted by Danny BloomThe continent of Antarctica is home to a uniquely beautiful and harsh environment that has changed little in the last 30 million years. The continent, approximately twice the size of Australia, lies mainly within the Antarctic circle and is surrounded by ocean. It is covered almost entirely by a sheet of ice and snow which has an average thickness of approximately 6,500 feet, comprising slightly more than 90% of the world’s ice and 70% of the world’s freshwater resources. This thick sheet of ice - also known as the ice cap - reflects most of the heat generated by the sun back into the atmosphere, leaving the continent with an annual mean temperature of -57º Fahrenheit. Antarctica is the world’s coldest and most pristine environment. The continent is also the driest and windiest landmass on Earth; with winds reaching speeds of up to 200 miles per hour and areas where rain has not fallen in millions of years. Antarctica also is the highest continent on earth, with an average elevation of 7,380 feet. Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/antarct ica.html
- Posted by Peter Griffiths