New Memorandum Elaborates U.S. Engagement in the Antarctic Treaty System, with Eye on Climate Change and Strategic Competitors

For the first time in thirty years, the United States has updated its Antarctic Region policy.¹ Last issued in 1994,² the new national security memorandum, which was released days before the 46th Antarctic Treaty consultative meeting (ATCM) in May 2024,³ elaborates U.S. engagement in the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS),⁴ with an eye on climate change and strategic competitors, such as China and Russia. It emphasizes the importance of the ATS, backs that system's policies and its decision bodies, and demonstrates the United States’ commitment to the region and to the treaty system. The memorandum comes amid rapid development of new technologies that make the Antarctic more easily accessible, heightened interest in the continent due to its abundant natural resources, including fisheries, minerals, and oil and natural gas reserves, and decreased consensus among states in the ATS's governance fora.⁵ Confronted with these challenges, the new memorandum seeks to maintain an Antarctic Treaty System, built to promote scientific research and environmental protection and eschew military and economic undertakings, that is increasingly under stress.

Activities in the Antarctic are governed by the four treaties that comprise the ATS, as well as decisions made by the bodies established by those treaties, such as the ATCM. Its foundational document, the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959 and which was designed to sequester the continent from Cold War geopolitical competition, limits the Antarctic's uses to “peaceful purposes only.”⁶ The treaty explicitly prohibits “any measures of a military nature” and bans “nuclear explosions . . . and the disposal . . . of radioactive waste material.”⁷ Parties are precluded as well from making or expanding on any claims to territorial sovereignty, nor can they assert any acts or activities undertaken while the treaty is in force as the basis for any claim.⁸ A transparency regime allows observers from the treaty's consultative parties⁹ “complete freedom of access at any time to any or all areas of Antarctica.”¹⁰ (There have been more than sixty inspections since the treaty went into force.)¹¹ Parties are also required to give advance notice of “all expeditions to and within Antarctica” and of “any military personnel or equipment intended to be introduced by it into Antarctica.”¹² The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty designates Antarctica as a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science,” sets out environmental principles for human activities there, and prohibits “[a]ny activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research.”¹³ The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources provides for the adoption of conservation measures, including the management of fisheries and the establishment of marine protected areas (of which there are currently two).¹⁴ The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals regulates the catching and killing of specified seal species.¹⁵

The United States maintains the largest scientific program, by number of personnel, in the Antarctic.¹⁶ Managed by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Antarctic Program operates three year-round scientific research stations that undertake investigations “to understand the region and its ecosystems; to understand its effects on (and responses to) global processes such as climate; and to use the region as a platform to study the upper atmosphere and space.”¹⁷ NSF-supported studies focus on “aeronomy and astrophysics, ecology, atmospheric sciences, biology and medicine, geology and geophysics, glaciology, and ocean and climate systems, and living marine resources.”¹⁸

The new U.S. policy's four objectives remain essentially the same as those that were laid out three decades earlier. The objectives include: “protect[ing] the relatively unspoiled environment of the Antarctic Region and its associated ecosystems”; “preserv[ing] and pursu[ing] unique opportunities for scientific research and understand the Antarctic Region's relationship to global environmental changes”; “maintain[ing] the Antarctic Region as an area of international cooperation reserved exclusively for peaceful purposes”; and “assur[ing] the protection and conservation of the living resources in and ecosystems of the Antarctic Region.”¹⁹

But the updated document differs from its predecessor in three important ways. First, the memorandum explicitly links climate change with Antarctic policy. It notes the “direct and indirect pressures from human activities” on the region and its resources and ecosystems.²⁰ It stresses how the region “plays a vital role in the global climate system.”²¹ And it highlights the importance of Antarctic scientific research to understanding climate change.²² In announcing the new memorandum, the White House emphasized that research has “conclusively demonstrated that ongoing climate and other global changes and their associated impacts are affecting the Antarctic Region,” and it “encourage[d] countries to take immediate steps to . . . protect the Antarctic Region's vulnerable environment and ecosystems . . . [by] set[ting] ambitious . . . [goals] under the Paris Agreement . . . and establishing a system of effective marine protected areas in the Antarctic Region.”²³ The memorandum also advocates other environmental measures, such as “the application of a precautionary, ecosystem-based approach rooted in the best available science” for “ecosystems and resources subject to exploitation” and “establishing, enforcing, monitoring, and adaptively managing fully and highly protected large-scale marine protected areas.”²⁴

Second, the new policy prioritizes the importance of maintaining the ATS itself, underscoring the United States’ “continue[d] . . . strong[] support [of] the ATS as the legal framework” for the region.²⁵ Elaborating on the centrality of the ATS, the memorandum reiterates its core policies. It describes the Antarctic region “as a zone for peace, international operation, the pursuit of science, and environmental protection.”²⁶ It “reiterates [the United States’] steadfast position of not recognizing sovereignty claims and of reserving all its rights throughout the whole of the Antarctic Region.”²⁷ And it promises that “[t]he United States will continue to maintain an active and influential presence in the ATS.”²⁸ The emphasis on sustaining and bolstering the ATS implicitly acknowledges the challenges the system currently faces.

Third, and relatedly, the policy focuses on the importance of compliance with ATS obligations and the commitment of the United States to their enforcement. “To maintain the effectiveness and durability of the ATS,” the memo explains, “the United States will continuously strengthen its promotion of transparency, compliance, cooperation, the exchange of best practices, and adherence to relevant norms by all ATS participants.”²⁹ To this end, the policy vows that “the United States will continue to use all tools available.”³⁰ The approach outlined in the memo “reflects the United States’ steadfast commitment to all aspects of the ATS, to include but not limited to arms control, the protection of vulnerable flora and fauna, and the general prohibition of activity relating to mineral resources.”³¹ The policy's prioritization of maintaining the ATS reflects the White House's understanding of the threats to the system. A press statement stated this more directly, asserting that the United States must “remain vigilant against actions by countries that could threaten U.S. national interests by bringing international discord to the Antarctic Region.”³²

The new U.S. Antarctic policy comes just months after China opened its fifth Antarctic station in February 2024.³³ China has expanded its presence in the Antarctic since 2009 and now has the fourth most stations on the continent.³⁴ Chinese President Xi Jinping, who announced in 2014 that China would become a “polar great power,”³⁵ marked the completion of the new station with a congratulatory letter.³⁶ The U.S. Defense Department's annual report on China warned in 2022 that “[China's] strategy for Antarctica includes the use of dual-use technologies, facilities, and scientific research, which are likely intended, at least in part, to improve [People's Liberation Army] (PLA) capabilities.”³⁷ The Department's 2023 report explained further that “[w]hile the equipment [located in China's research stations] is ostensibly used for legitimate scientific research and is allowable under the Antarctic Treaty, it could also be used for unspecified military purposes . . . provid[ing] the PLA with better surveillance capabilities” including the “collect[ion] [of] signals intelligence over Australia and New Zealand.”³⁸ A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said shortly after the new station opened that “China always makes sure that our activities are consistent with the stipulations of the Antarctic Treaty System. China's new Antarctic station is built and operated in full compliance with international rules and procedures.”³⁹

The policy also comes at a time when there are growing concerns regarding the stability of the ATS. The abundant natural resources of the Antarctic Region are a great temptation to states, and the consensus-based decision-making processes in the ATCM and the Commission for the Convention of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) create challenges when states have diverging interests. In recent years, an increasing number of conflicts have arisen in these fora. In the CCAMLR, for example, China and Russia have prevented the creation of new marine protected areas (MPA), which (if established) would limit fishing within those waters.⁴⁰ In the ATCM, the Antarctic Treaty parties have not been able to find consensus on the addition of Belarus and Canada as consultative parties.⁴¹ And since 2022, China has prevented the ATCM from adopting measures that would protect emperor penguins.⁴² In its 2023 report on China, the Department of Defense asserted that China “has been de-legitimizing the Consensus-based Antarctic Treaty, preparing for 2048, when central aspects of the treaty will be open to renegotiation. It is likely both China and Russia will work together to seek to renegotiate the Antarctic Treaty to loosen regulations on mining and fishing practices, which both countries need for future consumption.”⁴³

The newly issued policy has been welcomed as a long overdue response to these developments and praised for its strong support for scientific research programs and the ATS.⁴⁴ Critics have noted, however, that U.S. commitment to the ATS requires increased investment in NSF programs and operations and greater congressional engagement.⁴⁵ In its announcement, the White House promised to “work with Congress to continue its support of our three world-class, year-round scientific research stations; research in the Antarctic Region on ocean ecosystems and Antarctic marine living resources; and modernization of the nation's polar icebreaker fleet” and “also work with Congress to meet international commitments and to ensure the appropriate domestic legislation and regulations to safeguard the wide range of U.S. interests in the Antarctic Region.”⁴⁶