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By Peter Rejcek
Scientists, diplomats and others involved in supporting
research in Earth’s polar regions converged in Baltimore,
Md., in April for the 32nd Antarctic Treaty Consultative
Meeting to discuss topics ranging from climate change
to tourism.
The first such meeting hosted in the United States since
1979, the event marked the 50th anniversary of the signing
of the historic international treaty that preserved the
continent for peaceful, scientific pursuits.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed
the session — which included the Arctic Council for
the first time ever — on its opening day, April 6.
“The genius of the Antarctic Treaty lies in its
relevance today,” she told about 400 participants
representing nearly 50 countries. “It was written
to meet the challenges of an earlier time, but it and
its related instruments remain a key tool in our efforts
to address an urgent threat of this time, climate change,
which has already destabilized communities on every continent,
endangered plant and animal species, and jeopardized critical
food and water sources.”
The treaty was signed in 1959 by the 12 nations that
participated in Antarctica during the International Geophysical
Year (IGY) , a scientific campaign of unprecedented discovery.
The United States and former Soviet Union both launched
the first satellites into space during IGY. Other major
IGY accomplishments included the discovery of the Van
Allen Belt, a ring of plasma wrapped around the Earth,
and confirmation of the plate tectonics theory.
The International Polar Year (IPY) , coming 50 years
after the IGY, officially came to a close last month.
A separate ceremony co-hosted by the National Science
Foundation (NSF) and the National Academy of Sciences
celebrated the successes of the IPY, which involved about
60 countries and nearly 200 international projects. [See
related story: IPY Legacies.]
Arden Bement, director of the National Science Foundation.Arden
Bement , director of the NSF, which manages the U.S. Antarctic
Program (USAP) and funds Arctic research, said during
the IPY clelebration that the data collected between March
2007 and March 2009 will pay scientific dividends for
decades to come.
“It may be the next generation of scientists, or
even the one after that, that first realizes the full
significance of results obtained by scientists in IPY,”
he said. One immediate result, he added, will hopefully
be more excitement about science in the younger generations.
“This may be the impetus for them to become scientists
in the years to come.”
David Holland , director of the Center for Atmosphere
Ocean Science at New York University , said the discoveries
from IPY will help the science community refine forecasts
about possible sea level rise. Predictions about how high
average sea level may go up by the end of this century
vary from about half a meter to double or even triple
that amount. Much of the uncertainty comes from the inability
of scientific models to account for the melting and retreating
ice in Antarctica and Greenland.
“The science isn’t quite there yet. We’re
getting there,” said Holland, one of six leading
polar scientists to speak during the IPY ceremony on April
6. “I really think with our international partners
we can solve this, but the hard part is about the doing
… If we decide we want to solve the problem, we can
do that.”
The history of the Antarctic Treaty itself is certainly
one of perseverance and small miracles, according to Dian
Belanger, a historian who wrote a seminal book about the
IGY, Deep Freeze: The United States, the International
Geophysical Year, and the Origins of Antarctica’s
Age of Science .
Seven of the original 12 nations that signed the treaty
had territorial claims, Belanger noted during a phone
interview. In the final days of negotiations, after about
18 months of discussions, Argentina still balked at the
idea of suspending its sovereignty, she said. New Zealand
finally resolved the stalemate by suggesting the treaty
reflect the model established during the IGY.
The exact words from the treaty in Article II state:
“Freedom of scientific investigation in Antarctica
and cooperation toward that end, as applied during the
International Geophysical Year, shall continue, subject
to the provisions of the present Treaty.”
Noted Belanger, “Nobody forgot their political interests,
but science provided a way to work around, even through,
them.”
The treaty has grown to include 47 signatory countries,
representing two-thirds of the world’s peoples. Treaty
members have adopted a number of other agreements over
the years, including the Convention for the Conservation
of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 1980 and the Protocol
on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty in
1991.
The latter agreement protects the Antarctic environment
through five specific annexes on marine pollution, fauna
and flora, environmental impact assessments, waste management
and protected areas. It prohibits all activities relating
to mineral resources except for scientific research.
“They couldn’t have done that in 1959,”
Belanger said of the 50-year ban on mineral exploitation.
“But [treaty negotiators] set up the treaty in such
a way that they would have treaty meetings every year
or two like the one now going on in Baltimore, so they
could take up issues that might come up after the fact
or that were beyond the capabilities of the diplomats
and politicians at the time.”
One of those present-day issues was Antarctic tourism,
which has grown tremendously in recent years. In 2007-08,
about 46,000 people visited the Antarctic by land or sea,
a sevenfold increase since 1992-93, according to the International
Association of Antarctic Tour Operators .
Clinton said on April 6 that the United States had submitted
a resolution that would place limits on landings from
ships carrying large numbers of tourists. “The United
States is concerned about the safety of the tourists and
the suitability of the ships that make the journey south,”
she said.
The resolution comes after a recent spate of tourist
ship mishaps around the Antarctic Peninsula. In 2007,
a tourist ship carrying 154 passengers and crew struck
an iceberg 50 miles off the coast and sank. No one was
hurt. During the most recent tourist season, two ships
ran aground in unrelated incidents, though both vessels
were later able to return to port in Argentina.
Clinton concluded her remarks to the assembled crowd
with an upbeat message.
“So, in the spirit of the treaty and in light of
the incredible discoveries that took place during the
International Polar Year, let us resolve to keep making
progress with sharp research and bold action on both ends
of our planet, in the south and the north, for the good
of our nations and for the people, but mostly for this
beautiful planet we currently share and the succeeding
generations that should have the same opportunity to enjoy
its bounty and its beauty.”
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