Geopolitical Change and the Antarctic Treaty System : Historical Lessons, Current Challenges

This book explores how geopolitical tensions have shaped the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) and offers insights into managing future challenges. The ATS, established with the 1959 Antarctic Treaty during the Cold War, has been a successful model of international governance, ensuring Antarctica's peaceful use and environmental protection. However, the ATS now faces new pressures, including an expanded membership of 57 states, increased economic activities such as tourism, fishing, and bio-prospecting, and the impacts of climate change. These factors are exacerbating geopolitical tensions that could challenge the stability of the ATS.

The book examines key moments in the history of the ATS to understand how past tensions were managed and what lessons can be drawn for the future. The volume covers the creation of the CCAMLR marine conservation treaty in the late 1970s-1980s; the developing world's opposition to the ATS in United Nations debates during the 1980s-1990s; the shift from permitting Antarctic mining to establishing the Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection in the early 1990s; the formation of the International Association of Antarctic Tourism Operators; the management of Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing in the 2000s; and the proposals for marine protected areas under the CCAMLR Convention in recent years. Several contributions also draw on critical and regional perspectives to make sense of geopolitical pressures on Antarctic governance and how they might play out over the years and decades ahead.

Through its attention both to critical turning points in the history of the ATS, and a broad range of conceptual approaches, the book provides an authoritative assessment of the ATS's capacity to address emerging geopolitical stresses and provides strategies for future governance. It is a timely resource for understanding the evolving dynamics in Antarctica and ensuring the region remains a zone of peace and scientific collaboration.

This book is a companion volume to McGee, Edmiston and Haward, 2022, The Future of Antarctica: Scenarios form Classical Geopolitics, in the Springer Polar Sciences Series.

Chapter 18 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Shirley V. Scott is the Deputy President of the Academic Board of UNSW Sydney and a Professor of International Law and International Relations at UNSW Canberra. Professor Scott’s research lies at the intersection of International Law and International Relations and she has published widely in journals of both disciplines. She is a former president of the Asian Society of International Law and a former chair of the International Law Section of the International Studies Association. One of Professor Scott's most significant contributions to scholarship has been her theory of international law as ideology. She has also published on topics including the nature of the engagement of the United States with international law, the role of the UN Security Council in the global response to climate insecurity, and Antarctic governance. Professor Scott was an academic observer with the Australian delegation to the 45th ATCM in Helsinki.

Tim Stephens is a Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney. He teaches and researches public international law, with his published work focussing on the international law of the sea, international environmental law and international dispute settlement. Professor Stephens' major publications include The International Law of the Sea (Hart, 2010, 2016, 2023 co-authored with Donald R Rothwell) and International Courts and Environmental Protection (Cambridge University Press, 2009). He holds a PhD in law from the University of Sydney, an M.Phil in geography from the University of Cambridge, and BA and LLB degrees (both with Honours) from the University of Sydney. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Jeffrey McGee is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and Faculty of Law at the University of Tasmania. His work is published in leading international journals in the fields of Antarctic policy, international environmental law, and climate change policy. He co-edited the book Anthropocene Antarctica, a special issue of the Australian Journal of Maritime and Ocean Affairs on 21st Century Challenges to the Antarctic Treaty System, and the Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Climate Change, Oceans and Coasts. He is an affiliated researcher with Humanities and Social Science expert group of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. He is also a member of the Australian Government’s consultative forum for the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and the Tasmanian Polar Network. In 2021, Jeff was a member of the Australian delegation to the 43rd Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. He also has experience as a lecturer on tourist flights to the Ross Sea area and East Antarctica.