subject: Antarctica Can Be Protected With Treaties [print this page] As per international treaties, Antarctica as a continent is protected from harm and is considered a wilderness preserve, so that all of the emperor penguins, blue whales, and every other bit of wildlife is protected. This pristine ecosystem has been protected from mining and oil drilling since 1998 and will stay protected for at least 50 years.
A very strong priority has been given to conservation instead of development. Any wildlife threats, including dogs and pesticides are also forbidden.
The agreement in question is titled the Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctica Treaty. In this protocol, every major nation in the world is required to refrain from developing anything industrial or commercial in one area.
A large part of Europe, Brazil, India, China, Japan, Russia, and the U.S. were some of the 26 countries that approved the accord in 1991 to preserve the region for scientific research only.
By setting out regulations, this treaty has abolished 15 years of environmental group lobbying as well as diplomatic talks. The rules said that the 35 scientific outposts had to clean their dumps and pick up their garbage and oil and mining was banned. It also forbids tourist ships and scientific stations from dumping raw sewage into Antarctic waters.
Explorers from the likes of Norwegian Roald Amundsen, who was the first man to reach the South Pole in 1911, had to rely on sled dogs for their transportation. But the treaty bans dogs completely because in recent years, dogs have killed Penguins amongst other native birds. Also banned from being brought into Antarctica are pesticides, polystyrene packaging and non-sterile soil.
The land is beneath an ice layer which averages one mile in thickness and supports only limited plant life, such and moss and grasses close to the shoreline. The ice that covers the land of Antarctica has 70 percent of the freshwater of the earth. Surrounding the ice mass is an abundant amount of seals, fish, sea birds, and whales.
Antarctica is a very fragile ecosystem. Growth is extremely slow in constant sub zero temperatures.
The land takes years to recover from any damage inflicted on it. Footprints, for example, can take as much as 10 years to disappear.
The original Antarctic Treaty, executed in 1959, prohibited nuclear tests and any military maneuvers in the area. Antarctica was then declared to be neutral territory where international research could occur. In spite of the treaty that protects the non-ownership of Antarctica, one country claims to own nearly the entire continent.
In the beginning of the 1980s, environmentalists began lobbying for conservation laws once scientists located offshore oil reserves and deposits of coal, copper, gold, iron, zinc, manganese, uranium and various other minerals. The ideas of drilling in Antarctica got tossed around in the 1970s when the energy crisis took place. As technology advances and the price of fuels begin to rise, interests in the deposits of the Arctic will probably augment.
Rules will be enforced individually since all 26 nations have their own laws. Should one country's citizens violate any of the rules and its government will not mediate the situation, other nations will put pressure on the government to solve it. This agreement has been considered a success story for the environment by a lot of people.
