Antarctic Treaty ‘record set straight’

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 2

Antarctic Treaty ‘record set straight’

Wellington reporter The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, “set the record straight” yesterday on the purpose of the Antarctic Treaty talks. He was replying to news media reports that the secret negotiations could lead to conflict or environmental damage. “This is totally irresponsible comment from people who ought to know better,” Mr Lange said. “The fact is that under international law anyone can go to Antarctica right now and explore for minerals. It is this situation — the current vacuum — that holds the greatest risks Tor confict and’ environmental damage, and it is this vacuum that the treaty parties are working at removing.” . He said the outcome of the negotiations would be an agreement putting a prohibition on mining and establishing procedures to examine carefully any future proposals. A detailed system of -regulation and control would be set up to ensure that strict environmental protection measures were imposed and observed. “I just cannot take this criticism of the negotiations seriously,” Mr Lange said. “It seems to me that the worst thing we could possibly do at the moment is to walk away from a constructive and responsible negoti-

ating process. These people seem to be saying that if there is a gap in the present law, do nothing and Antarctica will remain a wilderness. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Marshall, said that it was Government policy, as already stated, that no mineral exploitation would take place in the Ross Dependency unless New Zealand was fully satisfied that the most stringent safeguards would be met, and that it would not in any way endanger the Antarctic environment. A Foreign Affairs’ assistant secretary, Mr Christopher Beeby, who chaired the five meetings of Antarctic consultative parties negotiating a minerals regime for Antarctica, declined to be interviewed yesterday. Mr Beeby prepared the leaked second draft of the minerals regime released internationally on Monday by the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition and Greenpeace groups. Mr Marshall said it was important to have adequate safeguards in the negotiations for minerals and that was what the Government was working towards. He said the report was by no means a final document. In the briefings he had had so far, he was aware that New Zealand was taking the lead in getting the treaty parties to focus on the environmental aspects of the region.