Press, Tony --- "Foreword: polar oceans governance - an Antarctic perspective" [2014] ELECD 306; in Stephens, Tim; VanderZwaag, L. David (eds), "Polar Oceans Governance in an Era of Environmental Change" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) x

Book Title: Polar Oceans Governance in an Era of Environmental Change

Editor(s): Stephens, Tim; VanderZwaag, L. David

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781955444

Section Title: Foreword: polar oceans governance - an Antarctic perspective

Author(s): Press, Tony

Number of pages: 3

Extract:

Foreword: polar oceans governance ­ an
Antarctic perspective
Tony Press

When I was asked to write a foreword to this book, I was sitting in The
Hague observing the case Australia had brought against Japan over
whaling in the Antarctic. The case has pitched two competing world
views on sustainable utilization of the marine environment; on protec-
tion of species; on science and its role in ocean management; and on, of
course, the operation of international agreements and the interpretation
of applicable law. Being asked to write this foreword gave me reason to
pause and consider what it is about Antarctica and its Southern Ocean
that sets it apart from the rest of the world, including the Arctic.
Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest continent. It is the least
populated and least exploited. It is a vast land mass with an average
cover of three kilometres' thickness of glacial ice, surrounded by a cold
ocean. The Southern Ocean links the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans,
and this combination of the frozen continent and its surrounding waters
provides a significant driver of the global climate system. Even
accounting for the impacts of the nineteenth and twentieth century
overexploitation of whales and seals and some species of penguins and
fish, the ecosystems of the Antarctic are relatively pristine compared with
the rest of the planet's marine-based ecosystems.
But the Antarctic and Southern Ocean is unique for legal and political
reasons as well. It is covered by a set of international agreements
...