Desarrollo de la Antártica

Briall Roberts I INTERNATIOl':AL COOPERATION FOR ANTARCflC .•• 3. Man's impact on the Antarctic environment. 4. T ourism and other forms of recreatíon. 5. Disposal of nuclear and other toxic wastes. 6. Icebe:ngs as a source of fresh water. In all ·of these, we need to accommodate the views of the claimant and non-c1aimant states which are signatories of the Treaty, the wishes of states which have subsequently acceeded to the Treaty, and also take into account Third vYorld pressures. It is helpful to make a clear distinction between renewable and non-renewable re– sources. It is also helpful to try to define which items really require formal international agreement in order to keep them under reaso– nable control and which items only need less formal agreed 'codes of practice' which are not legally binding but are obviously in the common interest. Mineral exploration and exploitation This is a highly complex matter. Time allows only a few brief com– ments. The Antarctic Treaty does not mention the subject becaus r::, if it had been pursued in Washington in 1959, there would have been no Treaty. Until 1972 it was not even possible to discuss this at Consultative Meetings, where a ~ing1e government can veto any item praposed forthe Agenda. Since then, the whole question has become much more urgent. It is useful to consider tihe expIoitation of hydrocarbons and hard rack minerals as two quite distinct probIems. In the Antarctic the former are most Iikely to occur offshore on the continental sheif. On tíhis occasion, 1 will restriet my remariks to hydrocarbons. We have only to consider the ex:¡perience of the Canadians in the Beau– fort Sea last year to appreciate the very rapid progress that has re– cently been made with the techniques of offshore drilJing in ice– inIested seas. The work of Dome 'Petroleum Ltd, in particular, has rlemonstrated that the oil industry is capable of working in these exceptionally difficult conditions. They ihave also demonstrated that they can meet the severe constraints and stipulations put on them by the federal government to- ensure environmental conservation. iMany of these constraints are similar in kind to those which would need to be incorporated in any licencing system for offshore drilling in the Antarctic. 1 would also ask you to renect on what has recently been happe– ning in anot:her part of the Arctic - in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.