What Does The Future Hold For Antarctica?
Antarctica is the coldest and most inaccessible continent on Earth. It is the only continent that different nations agreed that they should share. However, as our natural resources start to run out, more nations are now looking at Antarctica as an additional source of natural resources.
The focus of the region has now become the oil, coal and iron rather than the ice, penguins and whales. The area is likely to change from being a haven for scientific studies with international cooperation, to one of exploitation and confrontation.
So far, places such as the United States Antarctic base the scientists have only experienced a tranquil environment of sharing and cooperation between nations. They speak of people bound by the hostile environment, an explorer spirit, and a love for science, working together through cold and hot wars. antarctic cruises
The work of Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd and his vision for the Antarctic has lead to a park being dedicated to him outside the National Science Foundation McMurdo building headquarters. Admiral Byrd led five Antarctic expeditions and was the first man to fly over the South Pole. He envisioned Antarctica as a region of International cooperation in science and as an example of a place where nations work together. But as people become more dependent on energy and more reliant on the minerals within the Earth, are his noble ideals likely to survive?
There is a now lot more interest over the Antarctic as a region as mineral resources but its full potential is not yet known. The situation in the Antarctic has changed to become more revolved around political situation and less in science. There’s a good chance that large quantities of undisturbed oil reserves and essential minerals exist under the frozen ice and the treacherous icy seas. antarctica trips
Considerable quantities of oil reserves and minerals have been found in continents that resemble Antarctica geologically. The existence of hydrocarbon deposits has already been hinted at from offshore scientific drilling by the United States.Coal and minerals have been confirmed on land with deposits of gold, lead, tin, uranium, cobalt, chromium, nickel, and titanium also present.
Until now the extreme nature of the environment has made the exploitation of the Antarctic an expensive and impossible task. Scientists and environmentalists alike are now concerned as the exploitation of the region is now makes sense economically due to the rising price of minerals and the new technology that is now available.
Environmentalists worldwide are concerned because the Antarctic is one of the remaining few regions that are still unpolluted, untouched and unspoilt on Earth. The commercial mineral exploitation will most certainly cause great damage to the environment and environment groups including the International Institute for Environment and Development and the Sierra club are well aware of this conflict.
The organizations believe some exploration of the mineral deposits is needed to assess what resources there are but these explorations must include an assessment of the environmental damage that any exploitation will cause. But they worry that the facts of the exploration will speed up the decision to exploit the region. What raises most concerns is drilling for oil due to the chances of a spill. A lot of Antarctica’s animal life is found near the coast and is likely to be affected. A spill in the region may cause more damage than in any other region because colder climates cause oil to break up and degrade at a slower rate.
Many of the activities that take place in the region are tied to a treaty created from 1959 that set Antarctica aside specifically as a scientific preserve. Thanks to the 12 nations who signed the treaty and Poland which joined later, the region has remained free from militarization and nuclear weapons testing. The treaty has successfully side stepped any overlapping land claims. Many countries including Great Britain, Australia, , New Zealand, France, Chile, Norway and Argentina all claim territory within the Antarctic.
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