The Antarctic is like no place on earth.
The “white continent” has lured the discoverers and scientists into its breathtaking, ironed landscape for two centuries. The countries tried to build the Antarctic and the claim, but nobody has it.
For 65 years, the Antarctic – one and a half time as large as Canada – has been ruled by a nation contract. But with increasing geopolitical tensions and a changing world order, this governance system is now under pressure.
“The antarctic contract is under considerable stress and stress and is likely to enter the worst time that it has ever experienced, ”said Klaus Dodds, professor at the Royal Holloway College of the University of London.
Forged of 12 nations At the climax of the Cold War, the Antarctic Treaty requested the state’s claims on territory and saved the continent for “science and peace”.
“The Antarctic Treaty is primarily a contract for armaments control,” said Dodds, a political geographer with specialist knowledge in Antarctic. He said that the contract was “incredibly important” because “he declared the Antarctic continent and the surrounding ocean a nuclear weapon -free zone”.
Remarkably, the contract has mainly worked for more than six decades. After the invasion of Ukraine in Russia in 2022 and the increasing respect for US President Donald Trump towards Moscow, the consensus among the contract members is becoming increasingly difficult to forge.
“Before the full invasion of Ukraine by Russia, there was a certain cooperation between the key states,” said Evan Bloom, formerly deputy deputy foreign minister, who was responsible for the Arctic and the Antarctic. “There is now less cooperation in both the Poles (north and south).”
“Until perhaps a few years ago, we spoke about the Arctic as a place of relative stability and the Antarctic Treaty as a framework for peace and stability. Now both assumptions are being considered,” said David Hik, chief scientist at Polar Knowledge, during an interview in Punta -Arenas, in the Canada recently with Chile an agreement with Chile, the strength of Antarctic Collaboration signed.
First all-Canadian Antarctic mission
More than 16,000 kilometers from Canada, Antarctic plays a decisive role in regulating the global climate and slowing the global warming. Still It is already massively changed, including Record temperatures and record-deep ice mirror.
The HMCS Margaret Brooke of the Canadian Navy, an Arctic and an offshore patrol ship sailed to Antarctic last weekend to maintain an unprecedented mission, and supported a team of 15 Canadian scientists for two weeks of research.
The navy is under strict conditions that work within the 60th parallel south, a circular latitude that includes the South Pole and the South Pole. The Antarctic Treaty prohibits any military activity outside the support of scientific research or operations at research stations.
“We have no aspect of sovereignty in the Antarctic. This is not our mandate at all,” said Teri Share, commander of HMCS Margaret Brooke.
“We have done everything the ship knows and painted red to ensure that we are considered collaborative and help to support the scientific piece, and not here as a quoted unquote warship.”
There is no settlement in Antarctic outside the science base. The political weight of a nation is measured there by its scientific footprint. More than 40 countries operate research stations and summer camps.
The United States has by far the biggest footprint, with the McMurdo research station in the Ross Sea region and two other permanent bases, one on the right at the South Pole. Great Britain, Australia, Germany and Japan also have robust Antarctic programs.
Russia has five permanent smaller bases and a handful of summer camps. China has its ambition to invest more in the Antarctic and a new modern basis for investing-Quinling-Seine third stop of the whole year, along with two season stations.
“It should be remembered that there is a reason why China founded five antarctic stations. Like Russia, it is preparing to potentially (territory) to say whether it is advantageous,” said Klaus Dodds.
Even Iran has shown interest in the southern polar region. In an interview of 2023 on Iranian state -controlled media, the commander of the Iranian Navy, counteradmiral Shahram Irani said that his country had planned Build a permanent basis thereWith the statement: “It is not only military work, but also scientific work that needs to be carried out.”
Military activity prohibited
Since his signing in Washington, DC in 1959, the governance of the Antarctic Treaty has survived. However, there are new concerns that technologies on some of the research bases in the strategic Southern Pole region have a double commitment to scientific and military purposes.
“The countries try to find out if something is going on,” said Bloom, who is now global
The Antarctic Treaty prohibits military activities, except for supporting science and in a related contract Protocol for environmental protection Signed in 1991 prohibited the exploration for minerals.
“There is … a question of whether the demilitarization will apply to the future and whether the mining ban will occur,” said Bloom. “At the moment they are and that’s a very good thing.”
However, the outlook appears weak, especially with cuts in the financing of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which supports Antarctic Research. Managers were released by Elon Musk’s Doge efforts, including a senior manager who returns from their regular months of working visits to the McMurdo Station.
Scientists who are currently working at the US stations The administration becomes more employees and supportEspecially so much of your work deals with global warming that the Trump team has disparaged.
Others have questioned the logic To pull resources from the Antarctic, given the increasing strategic value of maintaining a presence on the continent.
Competition for Krill
The tension also builds on the fishing rights in a related contract for the commission to preserve the Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
China at a CCAMLR meeting in Australia last year in October blocked the expansion Existing management measures for the Antarctic Krill, an important part of the food network in the south of the ocean.
Norway, China and South Korea are currently the top harvest of the Antarctic Krill.
Russia and China have lodged additional marine protected areas, the last 2014 have been agreed. Only five percent of the southern ocean are currently protected.
“Countries like China and Russia are absolutely determined to make the persecution of marine protection as difficult as possible on the one hand and on the other hand.
The quota boundaries are not injured, but the krill industry is growing, and Norway and China are building new high-tech boats that use continuous pumping technology to almost quadruise what a traditional ship can harvest, says Lynda Goldsworthy, a research assistant at the University of Tasmania.
“China made it very clear, as did her right that it wants to be more influential within the Antarctic Contracting System,” said Goldworthy.
“You don’t know where you want to go and how big you want.
Canadian scientists collected rehearsals of sea water and sediment from Admiralty Bay, Antarctic, hoping to learn more about our changing climate as part of a mission on board the HMCS Margaret Brooke.
“We have to do something to keep this.”
The political tensions also occur on Canada’s ambition within the Antarctic Contract system. It registered for the contract in 1988, but it wants to raise its authority as a voting member, a so -called consulting party.
That is blocked, says Dodds.
“In the past three or four years, Canada’s claim to be a consulting party has been blocked primarily by Russia,” he said. This is because Russia wants his ally Belarus to become a advisory party alongside Canada, and the decision must be mutually agreed.
“Canada publishes more scientific work on Antarctica than over two thirds of the consulting celebrations. In my opinion, it is an absolute travesty of justice that Canada is not an advisory party,” said Dodds.
The all-Canadian expedition in Antarctic this month is part of the effort to build Canadian science diplomacy in the region, although it does not operate its own research station and instead works with scientists from other countries.
The science team on board the HMCS Margaret Brooke was invited to visit the Brazilian research station on King George Island, who studies climate change on the continent.
“We are interested in Glacier Retreat because we have a lot of retreat here,” said Monica Petti, a Brazilian biologist who works at the Brazilian station.
“When you come to the Antarctic and see how nice it is, we have to do something to keep it,” she said.
“Our world is crazy these days. I think the Antarctic Treaty is a good example of working. We can live a better way with peace and science.”
