Defending polar empire: opposition to India's proposal to raise the ‘Antarctic Question’ at the United Nations in 1956

Howkins, Adrian

doi:10.1017/s0032247407006766

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Between 1983 and 1990, 11 states joined the ATS for a revealingly wide range of reasons. India, whose 1956 attempt to raise the question of Antarctica at the UN faltered because Chilean and Argentinean opposition prevented the consolidation of an anti-imperial coalition (Howkins, 2008), acceded to the Treaty in 1983 and was granted consultative status in less than a month. It also prompted more regional governance bodies to take notice.…”

Section: Governmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there anything natural about the polar?

2019

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Are similarities of temperature, snow and ice cover, and (certain) marine mammals sufficient to warrant both polar regions being considered a single object of study or governance? We argue that their treatment as a unit is an invitation to examine the motivations behind the choice to be polar rather than Arctic or Antarctic. For individuals such as James Clerk Ross or Roald Amundsen, logistical requirements and analogous goals facilitated careers spanning both the Arctic and the Antarctic. This trend continued through the 20th century as individual scientists studying phenomena such as glaciers, sea ice, or aurora defined their research as “polar” in nature. Organisations such as the Scott Polar Research Institute and Norwegian Polar Institute could draw on traditions of national exploration in both polar regions, while the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg gained its southern mandate with the importance of the International Geophysical Year. By comparison, neither the Arctic Institute in Copenhagen nor the Argentine Antarctic Institute felt any need to become polar. The creation of polar identity is ultimately a matter of geopolitics, of the value states see in instruments and symbols that speak to polar rather than Arctic or Antarctic interests. In cases such as Finland’s icebreaker industry, a technological capability justified Antarctic interest even without any national research tradition. We conclude by asking whether there is anything more natural about the polar regions than there is about the concept of a “tripolar” world in which the high alpine regions form a natural unit along with the Arctic and Antarctic.

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Section: Governmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there anything natural about the polar?

2019

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“…In that context, assertions of negligence and abdication of governance responsibilities by the ATCPs could well gain traction. It might also revive the ‘Antarctica issue’ debate in the General Assembly of the UN and give new life to suggestions made in earlier decades that the UN would be the most globally representative intergovernmental organisation to take over governance in the continent (Hayashi 1986; Howkins 2008). The direction that the ATCPs have taken recently in relation to ship-borne tourism, which is to effectively delegate policy reforms in Antarctic shipping to a UN agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), could add weight to these suggestions.…”

Section: The Consultative Parties and Arguments For Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antarctic tourism management and regulation: the need for change

Verbitsky

2013

Polar Record

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Antarctic tourism has experienced a boom period over the last thirty years. Beginning in the 1980s, the number of tourists who visited the continent annually began to rise sharply, and within the space of twenty years the numbers had increased by more than six hundred percent. Despite a global recession and downturn in visitor numbers over the last two austral seasons, the expectation is that Antarctic tourist numbers will trend upward again as the world tourism market recovers and the demand for Antarctic visits increases. In a continent renowned both as the last great global wilderness and as a place dedicated to scientific research in the interests of humankind, tourism on this scale presents a formidable range of issues for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs) to contend with. This article suggests that the rapid growth in Antarctic tourism, and the impacts of that tourism coupled with the lack of a comprehensive regulatory and management framework for tourism now pose a considerable challenge to both the Consultative Parties and to the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) itself. The obligations and duties of the ATCPs under the Antarctic Treaty and other ATS instruments require a robust, strategic response by them to the issues and concerns generated by the growth of tourism. What is needed, it is argued, is for the parties to initiate a more interventionist pro-active policy approach to create a holistic, binding tourism framework so that they may fulfill more effectively their stewardship and governance roles in Antarctica, prevent degradation of Antarctica's environment, and reduce risks to tourists themselves.

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“…This was, in part, considered to be important in order to prevent more substantial United Nations involvement. India has raised the question of Antarctica’s status in 1956 and 1958 and the 12 parties in the main did not wish to ‘internationalise’ further the continent at this stage (Beck, 1986; Howkins, 2007).…”

Section: Historical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%