Antarctic in peril?

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33512, 18 April 1974, Page 11

Antarctic in peril?

(N.Z. Preax Axsn—Copyright) WASHINGTON,

April 17.

Antarctica, where penguins and scientists peacefully co-exist, may become an endangered continent in the not-too-distant future, according to a front-page report in the “Washington Star-News.”

“The international ground rules that have set Antarctica apart as a wide-open research laboratory are being threatened by the worldwide search for new sources of minerals and energy, and especially oil, and the suspicion that the icy continent may be rich in such resources.”

The 17 Antarctic Treaty nations will meet in Oslo, Norway next year, to consider ‘Antarctic resources and the effects of mineral exploration '

Most of the United States Government agencies involved in a review aimed at developing the United States’ position for the Oslo Conference, including the Departments of State, (Defence and Commerce and the National Science Foundation, want to forestall mineral exploitation and to keep Antarctica the way it is now — preserved as a unique continental scientific laboratory, outside the world of national rivalries.

“But, in a three-page disclaimer to the review that is now heading towards the

National Security Council [and then, within the next [few weeks, towards President Nixon for a final decision, the Federal Energy Office disagrees. It has strongly urged that. United States "options” to develop Antarctica on a unilateral basis should not be foreclosed regardless of diplomatic or environmental consequences.

“Hardly any one noticed when, in 1960, a dozen nations, including the two super-powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, signed a remarkable treaty setting Antarctica aside as the first place on earth to be preserved ‘for peaceful purposes.’

“By that treaty, agreed to by five other nations, Antarctica is unique in that it is the only place no-one owns. It is a nuclear-free zone. American and Soviet Union scientists freely peek over each other’s shoulders, as they do nowhere else. “But the prospect of unlocking the continent to international prospectors could change all this. Ex-

ploitation could bring to n head international disputes which have been dormant under the treaty's protective mantle, notably the question of claims, some conflicting

“Seven nations currently claim territory: Britain, France. Norway, New Zea land. Australia, Chile, and Argentina. Except for n brief, four-hour period last August, when several Argontine officials flew to Antarc Itica and established a tern porary seat of Government on the frozen continent, these claims have been fairly quiescent.

“Five other nations, the United States, the Soviet Union, South Africa Belgium, and Japan, do not nowhave claims, but would be likely to make theirs if mining of resources were to begin. Another five countries with ‘interests’ include Czechoslovakia. Denmark the Netherlands, Poland, and Rumania.”

(New Zealand first raised the issue of mineral exploit* tion in Antarctica at a con sultative meeting of several nations in Tokyo in 1970 1