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The Hollowing of Antarctic Governance

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Abstract

The paper examines the apparent disabling of some substantive functions of the Antarctic Treaty System (its ‘hollowing’) since the adoption of the Madrid Protocol in 1991. It provides some examples of such hollowing by reference to regulatory gaps, the Antarctic continental shelf, and changes in the operation of Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, before exploring the drivers of the hollowing and future options to reinvigorate Antarctic governance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Antarctic Treaty. Adopted Washington DC 1 December 1959, entered into force 23 June 1961. 402 UNTS 71.

  2. 2.

    The Antarctic Treaty System is defined in Article 1 of the Madrid Protocol (below) as “the Antarctic Treaty, the measures in effect under that Treaty, its associated separate international instruments in force and the measures in effect under those instruments”.

  3. 3.

    [CCAS] Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Seals. Adopted London, 1 June 1972, entered into force 11 March 1978. 1080 UNTS 175.

  4. 4.

    [CCAMLR] Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Adopted Canberra 20 May 1980, entered into force 7 April 1982. 1329 UNTS 47.

  5. 5.

    [CRAMRA] Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities. Adopted Wellington 2 June 1988. 30 ILM 1455. Has not entered into force, being superseded by the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

  6. 6.

    [Madrid Protocol] Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. Adopted Madrid 4 October 1991, entered into force 14 January 1998. 30 ILM 1461.

  7. 7.

    ATS (2009, 161–162).

  8. 8.

    The approach historically taken in relation to sealing, marine harvesting and minerals resource activities in the ATS.

  9. 9.

    The first recital of the Preamble to the Antarctic Treaty refers to the “interest of all mankind” that Antarctica “not become the scene or object of international discord”.

  10. 10.

    On the challenges to the historic Antarctic exceptionalism, see Hemmings (2007, 2009). The argument for a new deliberative exceptionalism is presented in Hemmings (2009, 71).

  11. 11.

    International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. Adopted Washington 2 December 1946, entered into force 10 November 1948. 161 UNTS 74.

  12. 12.

    See e.g. the consideration of environmental impact assessment duties in Antarctica in Hemmings et al. (2007).

  13. 13.

    On tourism see; Liggett et al. (2011) on bioprospecting see Leary (2014).

  14. 14.

    Measure 4 (2004) Tourism and Non-Governmental Activities; Measure 15 (2009) Landing of Persons from Passenger Vessels.

  15. 15.

    Discussed in the annual review of The Antarctic Treaty System in New Zealand Yearbook of International Affairs since 2011. See, e.g. Hemmings (2017a).

  16. 16.

    Although the underlying differences around the interpretation of purposes of the convention may be. See Cordonnery et al. (2015).

  17. 17.

    United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Adopted Montego Bay 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November 1994. 21 ILM 1261.

  18. 18.

    Succinct coverage provided in Saul and Stephens (2015), lxiii–lxvi.

  19. 19.

    The period may reasonably be said to begin in 1999 with an Australian Media Release: Robert Hill, Minister for the Environment and Heritage and Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs. “Move to Claim Extended Antarctic Continental Shelf”—Joint Media Release, 2 December 1999.

  20. 20.

    Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, Russian Federation, United States. Data from http://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/commission_submissions.htm.

  21. 21.

    See the statement by a senior Swedish diplomat that although the claimants, Russia and the US had held consultations, “no formal or informal consultations with the rest of the Parties were held” (Jacobsson 2007).

  22. 22.

    Resolution 2 (2012).

  23. 23.

    Decision 1 (1995).

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Correspondence to Alan D. Hemmings .

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Hemmings, A.D. (2018). The Hollowing of Antarctic Governance. In: Goel, P., Ravindra, R., Chattopadhyay, S. (eds) Science and Geopolitics of The White World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57765-4_2

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