18 - The application of the law of the sea and the exclusive economic zone to the Antarctic continent

Summary

Antarctic development and the marine environment

The growth in recent decades of scientific research focusing on Antarctica and the continent's continually improving accessibility, with air routes now open virtually year-round, have together with other factors placed Antarctica's resources increasingly in the spotlight. The Consultative Parties to the Antarctic Treaty, as well as other signatory countries of the Treaty and even non-signatory countries have been expressing their interest in this area, while the progress of technological development has proceeded without interruption.

Given the continent's geographic and climatic conditions, the development of its resources is intimately associated with the marine environment, for it is here that resources can most immediately be tapped, although great technological, economic and environmental difficulties will nonetheless have to be overcome. To the traditional activities of whaling and sealing, which are essentially marine activities, fishing has now been added. So far as the development of mineral resources is concerned, the major prospects also centre on Antarctica's continental shelf, not counting the fields of manganese nodules and other sea-bed resources also found in the area covered by the Treaty. Even the possible utilisation of icebergs is an activity involving the marine environment.

The regulatory instruments that have been approved, whether based on recommendations emerging from the consultative meetings or from special international conferences, for the most part relate to the marine environment. This is the case, for example, of the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Flora and Fauna, the Convention on the Whale, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, and more recently the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.