Antarctica

Press, 30 March 1983, Page 12

Antarctica

Sir,—“lt is only right that exploitation should benefit the poor nations as much as the rich.” So said the Malaysian Prime Minister at the United Nations last year. Now Malaysia has had its phrasing “accessible to all nations,” “for the benefit of all mankind,” endorsed at a non-alighfd summit in New Delhi and served notice it will

continue to press its case before the U.N. (“The Press,” March 23). Malaysia, of course, is not concerned for the Antarctic environment and has criticised the present treaty for being deficient in not having specific provisions on exploitation of resources. Meanwhile, the treaty nations themselves are turning a blind eye to the steady shift of research priorities away from natural history toward oil and gas exploration. The territorial claims of New Zealand and the six other countries, and the future of the environment, look bleaker and bleaker with Malaysia envisaging a regime along the lines of the Law of the Sea Convention. World park status is all that can save Antarctica and this is what the fight in the U.N. should be concerned with.—Yours, etc., ERIC BENNETT. March 27, 1983.