Antarctica Can Be Protected With Treaties
Antarctica is a continent with immense mountain peaks and oceans filled with emperor penguins, blue whales, and leopard seals, and it is protected as a wilderness through an international pact. Since it was signed in 1998, drilling for oil and mining operations are prohibited for a minimum of 50 years on this continent, which is the most frigid and unspoiled ecosystem on the planet.Conservation is emphasized over development interests. It prohibits a vast range of threats to wildlife, including pesticides and dogs.
The continent is protected through the Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctica Treaty.Many countries signed this accord in order to protect this one region on earth from commercial interests and development by industry.The treaty was approved in 1991 by 26 leading nations including the United States, Russia, China, India, Japan, Argentina, Brazil and most major European countries who had interests in the area.To find affordable antarctica tours information see this resource.
By setting out regulations, this treaty has abolished 15 years of environmental group lobbying as well as diplomatic talks. The rules banned oil drilling and mining. It requires that the nations who run Antarctica’s 35 scientific research outposts clean out their garbage dumps.Antarctic waters are also protected from scientific stations and tourist ships dumping raw sewage into them.
When the first person to reach the South Pole, Roald Amundsen, got there in 1911, he got around the continent with sled dogs.But the treaty bans dogs completely because in recent years, dogs have killed Penguins amongst other native birds.Also banned were pesticides, polystyrene packaging and non-sterile soil.
There is land on Antarctica, but it’s hidden under a mile of ice, and the amount of plant life found there is minimal.The ice cover contains 70 percent of the earth’s fresh water.Surrounding the ice mass is an abundant amount of seals, fish, sea birds, and whales. If you want more comprehensive info on adventure antarctica tours that site will help you.
For all of its harshness, the ecosystem of Antarctica is very fragile.With its air temperature continuously below zero, any growth is extremely slow.Recovering from trauma can take years.For instance, a footprint in a bed of moss may remain the same for 10 years.
Signed in 1959, the original Antarctic Treaty banned nuclear testing and military activity in the area.It also asserted that Antarctica was to be owned by no nations. The rules for research were also established at this time.No one nation can claim all of Antarctica but every inch is claimed some country.
Scientists discovered offshore oil reserves as well as coal, copper, gold, zinc, iron and other minerals in the early 1980s prompting some conservationists to push for laws to protect the resources.During the energy crisis of the 1970s, some companies began discussions on the feasibility of drilling in Antarctica.With technology advancement and increases in the price of oil, interest in these deposits will probably become more intense.
The twenty-six nations that formed the agreement will independently enforce the regulations.Should a nation’s citizens break the laws and its government declines to intervene, the other countries would exert pressure to resolve the problem.The story of Antarctica is very encouraging for the environmentalist movement.
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