Why penguins don't wake
up oily -- 14 January 2008 - Amsterdam,
Netherlands — On this date in 1998, more
than ten years of Greenpeace
efforts delivered a champagne moment, when
an extraordinary international agreement
came into force, protecting the Antarctic
continent from oil and minerals exploitation
for the next five decades. Today, we take
a moment to honour the efforts that are
still keeping an entire continent safe from
the catastrophe of oil spills, even as we
redouble our efforts to protect its oceans
from further threats.
Antarctica is quite
simply unlike anywhere else on Earth, a
near pristine environment of ice and snow.
That it remains a true wilderness is the
result of the efforts of a great many people
over many years, a large proportion of whom
have never, or will never, set foot on the
continent but hold dear the belief that
this essentially unspoiled region should
not be lost.
Greenpeace's own history
is closely tied to the history of protection
of Antarctica. It is now 20 years since
four Greenpeace volunteers became the first
occupants of a small permanent base on the
shore of Ross Island. This was for the next
four years to be at the centre of Greenpeace's
campaign, begun in earnest in 1985, to establish
the region as a World Park - an idea founded
on the principle that the continent is part
of the global commons, belonging to nobody.
The objective of the campaign was to stop
the various countries that were staking
a claim to the oil and mineral deposits
under the ice and rock.
Treaty talks
Having a presence on
the continent gave Greenpeace a voice at
the Antarctica Treaty table where the continent's
fate would ultimately be decided. The Antarctica
Treaty was signed in 1958 by eighteen countries,
seven of which claimed a territorial stake
in the region. The treaty recognised Antarctica
as a unique scientific and planetary resource
for the whole of humankind and protected
it for 30 years. However by the early 1980s,
knowledge of the extent of Antarctica's
mineral wealth was increasing, along with
technological advances that would enable
its exploitation. To environmentalists,
it looked as if the signatories to the Antarctic
Treaty were all but lining up to start prospecting,
and the prospects of actually stopping them
appeared slim.
The campaign had many
strands, with the on-the-ice work helping
drive the political lobby work. Greenpeace's
monitoring of the environmental impacts
of the various activities being carried
out by the countries which had bases in
the region and the blocking of the construction
of a French airstrip, which involved the
dynamiting of a penguin nesting area and
was in direct contravention of the Treaty,
helped garner support for the campaign.
This came from governments, other NGOs and
from global personalities including Prince
Sadruddin Aga Khan, Jacques Cousteau, and
Ted Turner.
Annoyance to acceptance
In the seven years of
the campaign Greenpeace went from being
perceived as almost a despised outsider
in the affairs of the Antarctica Treaty
Nations to a respected player in negotiations
for the future of the continent. In 1989
the "Exxon Valdez" oil spill in
Alaska severely undermined the oil companies'
argument that drilling in ecologically sensitive
areas could be conducted in a safe, environmentally
friendly manner. Gradually more and more
of the Treaty signatories were persuaded
of the merits of making Antarctica a World
Park.
In 1991 the members
of the Antarctic Treaty agreed to adopt
a new Environmental Protocol, known as the
Madrid Protocol, including an extraordinary
50-year minimum prohibition on all mineral
exploitation.
A milestone in the history
of both the environment and Greenpeace,
it does not mean that the region is safe
from human interference - in particular
Antarctica's unique marine ecosystems are
coming under increasing threat -- and not
only from the Japanese whaling fleet.
Arrrrr, toothfish, mateys
Pirate fishing for toothfish
is an ongoing problem, depleting fish stock
after fish stock and causing major damage
to albatross and other seabird species which
swoop down to feed on the bait as the longlines
are set, get hooked and drown. Last year
the estimated bycatch of seabirds by the
pirate fishing fleet was 8,212 birds. After
destroying the fish stock in one area these
vessels move on to another. Currently pirate
fishing is concentrated around the BANZARE
Bank area and the damage they are doing
is likely only to be reversible in decades.
As the pirate fleet creeps round the continent
it is getting ever closer to the Ross Sea,
an area considered one of the most pristine
on earth and one that has long been advocated
as warranting complete protection.
Accidental tourists
Even non-extractive
activities can put enormous pressures on
the fragile Antarctic ecology. Drawn both
by the splendours of the ice and by the
extraordinary marine wildlife of the region
- seabirds, penguins, seals and whales,
the numbers of tourists visiting Antarctica
are increasing year on year. The sinking
of the cruise vessel MV Explorer off King
George Island, South Shetland Islands, in
November serves as a timely reminder of
the risks that even this activity poses
to the marine environment. Many vessels
are much larger and carry large quantities
of oil and it is entirely possible that
an accident of this kind could at some future
date lead to an environmental catastrophe
and clearly shows why this industry needs
careful regulation.
License to krill?
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are
among the most abundant and successful animal
species on the planet and are a keystone
species in the Antarctic food web with most
of the larger Antarctic animals, the seals,
whales and seabirds as well as the less
well known fish and squid, depend directly
or indirectly on them for food. There is
much to marvel at regarding krill biology
and much still to learn, especially the
relative importance of their role in carbon
sequestration. It has been known for some
time that Antarctic krill feed on phytoplankton
near the surface at night and sink deeper
in the water column during the day to avoid
predators, but recent research by some British
scientists has revealed that they also parachute
down several times during the night. As
a consequence of this behaviour, the krill
is likely to be transporting more carbon
from the surface layers to deeper waters
than previously thought. Lead author of
the paper, Dr Geraint Tarling from the British
Antarctic Survey estimates the annual sequestration
of carbon by Antarctic krill may be the
equivalent to the emissions of 35 million
cars. The growing interest in harvesting
of massive quantities of krill in the Southern
Ocean could therefore have major consequences
not only for marine predators but also for
the climate.
Less ice, more oil
As oil prices rise and
the world's fossil fuel addiction continues,
both the Arctic and the Antarctic seabeds
are being sized up for new territorial claims
under the Law of the Sea Convention. Last
year, Russia placed a flag on the ocean
floor under the Arctic, putting down the
first marker in what could be a very messy
undersea land-grab -- and a disastrous one
for the climate.
Some of the most drastic
effects of climate change are currently
being experienced in the polar regions with
ice-shelves melting and glaciers shrinking
in both the Arctic and Antarctica. This
week the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens
Stoltenberg, and Rajenda Pachauri, chairman
of the IPCC will be visiting Antarctica
to draw attention to the scale of problem.
Rapid melting at both poles will not just
affect the simple but vulnerable polar ecosystems
but affect the global climate and could
lead to devastating sea-level rise.
Marine reserves for
healthy oceans
As the world changes
and even greater pressures are placed on
Antarctica, more must be done to ensure
it is properly protected. Globally we should
all be working to reduce the emissions of
fossil fuels and also supporting measures
that will increase the resilience of our
ocean ecosystems to the impacts of climate
change. Greenpeace is campaigning for a
global network of marine reserves that would
do just that -- put large ocean areas off
limits to fishing and other extractive activities
such as oil drilling. In our Roadmap to
Recovery we identified three huge areas
around Antarctica which should be included
in any future network. However as principal
author, Professor Callum Roberts, writes
there is a case for extending such protection
to all waters south of 60 degrees South
to safeguard one of the most pristine environments
left on the planet for the benefit of all
humanity.
