Nexus and Imbroglio: ccamlr, the Madrid Protocol and Designating Antarctic Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean

Abstract

The paper examines the process and context of international efforts to designate MPAs in the Southern Ocean. The relationship between the CAMLR Convention and the Madrid Protocol is examined in relation to legal, political and administrative norms and practices. A contextual overview of the Antarctic marine protected area system is considered followed by overlapping competencies of CCAMLR and the Madrid Protocol. The Antarctic MPA debate is placed in a wider international legal context of the management of global oceans space in areas beyond national jurisdiction. We provide an analysis of the politico--legal discourse and point to complicating factors within, and external to, the Antarctic system. The concluding section suggests options for breathing new life into the Southern Ocean MPA discourse.

Marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean: Is the Antarctic Treaty System ready to co-exist with a new United Nations instrument for areas beyond national jurisdiction?

“…The Southern Ocean has been lauded as one of the most comprehensively managed ABNJ in the world under the auspices of the ATS [ [12] , [13] , [14] ]. Since the inception of the Antarctic Treaty (AT) in 1959, several urgent environmental and resource issues emerged and were addressed through the adoption of a series of implementing agreements, resulting in today's comprehensive ATS governance framework [ 15 ]. While Article IX of the AT sets out a mandate for parties to adopt measures 5 in furtherance of the principles and objectives of the Treaty, including the “preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica”, the emergent issues proved too challenging to be managed by mere measures, hence the early expansion of the regime.…”

“…The Protocol to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty is a second instrument within the ATS mandated to protect the marine environment, and which arguably possesses a more comprehensive framework to establish protected areas [ 15 ]. The Protocol entered into force in 1998 and designates Antarctica as a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science” (Article II).…”

“…The total area of these marine components is less than 5707 km 2 , 8 which equates to less than 0.02% of the CAMLR Convention Area (35, 716, 100 km 2 ). ASMAs and ASPAs therefore do not contribute to a wider representative MPA network [ 15 , 37 ].…”

“…This provision has resulted in a power shift to CCAMLR members, removing agency from the ATCM in leading its own innovative marine protection initiatives [ 15 ]. ATCM Decision 9 (2005) does however offer a level of independence to the ATCM regarding marine protection.…”

The spatial distribution of Antarctica’s protected areas: A product of pragmatism, geopolitics or conservation need?

“…The designation of CCAMLR MPAs is not considered in detail here; however, the establishment of such areas has faced significant political difficulties in recent years (Cordonnery et al, 2015;Brooks, 2016), possibly due in part to perceptions that there may be underlying territorial reasons behind their proposal (Lukin, 2014). All four of the currently designated or formally proposed CCAMLR MPAs have proponents who claim the sector in which they are located (Table 2).…”