Antarctica's future as an unsullied continent dedicated to science hangs in the balance as negotiators from the Antarctic treaty nations ready themselves to do battle in Chile next week. At issue is whether a convention on mineral rights that took eight years to negotiate should be scrapped in favour of a new convention declaring Antarctica a world park that is out of bounds to prospectors.
In 1961, the Antarctic Treaty, signed by nations with interests in Antarctica, set aside the claims of seven of the nations to sovereignty over slices of the continent, and made Antarctica a zone of scientific research. Then the oil crises of the 1970s led to fears that any discovery of oil in Antarctica would reawaken the issue of sovereignty. Scientists also feared that unless mining was strictly regulated it would destroy the pristine environment essential to Antarctic science.
Negotiations for the Convention on the Regulation ...
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