GP Applauds Antarctic Protection Victory

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENPEACE APPLAUDS ANTARCTIC PROTECTION VICTORY

Greenpeace hailed today's entry into force of the Antarctic
Environmental (Madrid) Protocol as a milestone victory in global
environmental protection.  The Protocol became international law
following formal ratification by Japan, the last of the 26
Antarctic Treaty Member nations to do so.

"This outstanding success vindicates over 10 years of Greenpeace
campaigning to protect Antarctica as a global wilderness and
scientific laboratory," said Iain Reddish, Greenpeace
International's Antarctic campaigner.

The Protocol bans all mining and mineral exploitation in
Antarctica for a minimum of 50 years and establishes a
compulsory permit procedure for all visits to Antarctica,
including both tourist and government expeditions.  It also
establishes strict legally-binding measures covering the
conservation of flora and fauna, marine pollution and waste
disposal.

Greenpeace -- which led by example in establishing its own
minimal impact World Park Antarctic base for five years
(1987-1991) --campaigned with other environmental groups for
over 15 years to focus world attention on Antarctica, in order
to reverse a decision made by Antarctic Treaty nations to allow
mining in the world's last untouched continent. 

With 70 per cent of the world's fresh water reserves, Antarctica
is the vital engine which drives much of our global climate.  It
is also a pure outdoor laboratory and is one of the few places
where global pollution can be measured. Antarctic ecosystems are
so fragile that a footprint on a mossbed may remain for a
decade.

But while the continent itself is now protected, the vast
Southern Ocean is facing new threats. Japan continues to kill
several hundred minke whales each year, in spite of the
worldwide moratorium and declared whale sanctuary. Fleets of
longliners are now scouring the sea for the lucrative patagonian
toothfish and southern bluefin tuna, killing hundreds of
thousands of sharks and tens of thousands of albatross in the
process.

"At the start of the UN Year of the Ocean, governments must
commit themselves to extending the protection now given to the
Antarctic continent to the Souther Ocean," Reddish said.  "The
Environment Protocol is a much welcome first step, but while the
Antarctic ecosystem remains at risk from sea-borne plunder,
Greenpeace's work in the region is far from over."


ends


NOTES TO EDITORS


The 26 Antarctic Treaty Member States are as follows, with the
date of individual national Antarctic Protocol ratifications in
brackets:

Argentina           (October, 1993)
Australia            (April, 1994)
Belgium              (April, 1996)
Brazil                 (August, 1995)
Chile                  (January, 1995)
China                 (August, 1994)
Ecuador              (January, 1993)
Finland               (November, 1996)
France                 (February ,1993)
Germany            (November, 1994)
India                   (April, 1996)
Italy                    (March, 1995)
Japan                  (December, 1997)
Korea                  (January, 1996)
Netherlands         (April, 1994)
New Zealand       (December, 1994)
Norway               (June, 1993)
Peru                     (March, 1993)
Poland                  (November, 1995)
Russia                  (August, 1997)
S. Africa               (August, 1993)
Spain                    (July, 1992)
Sweden                 (March, 1994)
UK                       (April, 1995)
US                        (April, 1997)
Uruguay               (January, 1995)   

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