Antarctica: the world's last great pristine wilderness. That's the image most of us have of the seventh continent. Vast colonies of seals, penguins, and other seabirds crowding the coastal edge. Whales, seals and other marine species flourish in the surrounding ocean. Wild seas, vast expanses of white, majestic icebergs.

Antarctica is also the engine that drives the southern hemisphere's climatic and oceanic systems. A critical part of the Earth's biosphere, its freezing temperatures act as a countervailing force to the equatorial tropics. Its cold and nutrient-rich waters flow northwards and feed marine life in other oceans.

The fact that it is one of the cleanest places on earth means that it is a laboratory for measuring the spread of global pollutants. It is also one of the first places on earth where the effects of increased atmospheric CO2 are being seen, and will therefore play a crucial role in the next few decades as place where global climate change can be monitored.

However, there is also another side to Antarctica; that which reflects the effects of colonisation by the human race. In the last half century, upwards of 50 scientific research stations have appeared on the continent, the largest being McMurdo station (US), the size of a small industrial town.

In this other Antarctica, tonnes of toxic waste have been dumped, scarce ice-free land has been contaminated by oil spills and earth movers and dynamite have destroyed fragile wildlife habitats.

This environmental abuse is not limited to the past. Pollution and destruction continues in Antarctica today. Millions of litres of raw sewage are discharged into otherwise pristine coastal waters, a variety of rubbish and fossil fuels are burned, and stations continue to spread inexorably over the landscape.

By the end of the 1980's, Antarctic Treaty parties had already negotiated an agreement that would have opened

Antarctica to the world's mining companies. It was only a world-wide campaign, spearheaded by Greenpeace, that stopped this agreement in its final stages of ratification, and forced Antarctic Treaty parties instead adopt a protective approach. The Protocol on Environmental Protection, completed in 1991 was a turning point in Antarctic affairs. It settled the debate on minerals exploitation by banning mining for at least fifty years and designated Antarctica a "natural reserve, devoted to peace and science." It also put in place important new environmental rules governing the conduct of Antarctic operations.

Thus in 1991 the Protocol was hailed by the world as a victory for the environment. We hoped that its entry into force would be a brief formality. However, as of January 1997, three countries--Japan, Russia and the US-- have yet to ratify the Protocol. And, because the Treaty functions on the consensus principle, the Protocol is not international law until all Treaty parties ratify. Five years on the world is still waiting.

Furthermore, despite a "gentleman's agreement" between the Treaty parties to implement the Protocol immediately (while waiting for it to come into force), improvements in operations have been slow. Greenpeace expeditions to Antarctica in 1993 and 1994 uncovered a number of environmental abuses, ranging from contaminated and leaky fuel tanks to the dumping of raw sewage. Equally disturbing was an ignorance of the Protocol such that many station personnel and even some leaders seemed unaware its existence--and the consequent lack of implementation was evident at many of the bases visited.

However, there are many signs of hope. Some bases today sport a modest selection of environmentally sound clean energy systems and co-operative scientific research. Many nations are now making concerted clean-up efforts. Greenpeace commends the improvements observed since its first expedition in 1986.

The biggest current threat to the world's greatest "natural reserve" is the burgeoning tourist industry. The number of tourists visiting Antarctica has increased from less than 1500 per year in the early 1980s to around 10,000 in the 1995/6 season. All too frequently tourists travel in large and ineffectively- regulated ships. Most of the regular vessels to visit Antarctica are members of the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), which promotes voluntary guidelines for tourist conduct. But other vessels visit Antarctica totally unprepared and ill- equipped. In the last few years, commercial overflights of the continent from Australia and New Zealand have also resumed.

Today Antarctica is at a crossroads. The alternatives now facing Antarctic Treaty parties are clear. They can carry on with business-as-usual, doing the least possible to comply with a minimalist interpretation of the Protocol. Or they can move beyond this narrow, one- dimensional approach and manage all operations in the true spirit of the Environment Protocol.

Greenpeace is not asking for an end to all human activity in Antarctica or for a return to some enchanted past. What Greenpeace has worked hard to achieve is Earth's first World Park, where the wilderness of Antarctica, the tradition of international cooperation, and world-class science are protected for the benefit of all human-kind.

Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (1961)

Argentina*

Australia*

Belgium

Brazil

Chile*

China

Ecuador

Finland

France*

Germany

India

Italy

Japan+

Korea, Republic of

Netherlands

New Zealand*

Norway*

Peru

Poland

Russia+

South Africa

Spain

Sweden

Uruguay

United Kingdom*

United States+