With the ending of IGY the threat arose that the moratorium too would end, letting the carefully worked out Antarctic structure collapse into its pre-IGY chaos. In the fall of 1957 the U.S. Department of State reviewed its Antarctic policy and sounded out agreements with the 11 other governments that were active in Antarctica during IGY. On May 2, 1958, U.S. Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower issued identical notes to these governments proposing that a treaty be concluded to ensure a lasting free and peaceful status for the continent. Preparatory talks by the 12 governments were held in Washington, D.C., beginning in June 1958 and continuing for more than a year. A final conference on Antarctica convened in Washington on October 15, 1959. Agreement on the final draft was reached within six weeks of negotiations, and the Antarctic Treaty was signed on December 1, 1959. With final ratification by each of the 12 governments (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the treaty was enacted on June 23, 1961.

The Antarctic Treaty was an unprecedented landmark in political diplomacy: it reserves the entire continent for peaceful purposes and scientific research. The treaty also declares the continent as the world’s first nuclear weapon-free zone and deals with the issue of territorial claims in an innovative manner. Article I of the treaty provides for the peaceful use of Antarctica; Article II for international cooperation and freedom of scientific investigation; Article III for free exchange of plans, scientific results, and personnel; Article IV for the nonrenunciation of prior claim rights and for the prohibition of new claims and the citation of any activities during the treaty term as a basis for past or future claims; Article V for prohibition of nuclear explosions or waste disposal; Article VI for application of the treaty to all areas south of latitude 60° S, excluding the high seas, which come under international law; Article VII for open inspection of any nation’s Antarctic operations by any other nation; Article VIII for legal jurisdiction related to the actions of a country’s nationals while in Antarctica; Article IX for the provision to conduct periodic meetings and reporting with respect to science, legal matters, resource conservation, and international relations; Article X for the commitment to undertake appropriate efforts by contracting parties to prevent activities that run contrary to the treaty; Article XI for reference of disputes to the International Court of Justice if they cannot be settled by peaceful negotiation or arbitration by the involved parties; and Article XII for a review of the treaty after it has been in force for 30 years if such a review is requested by any contracting party.

As stated in Article IV, the many territorial claims that existed before the signing of the treaty are not abrogated by signatory nations. An important provision of the treaty requires periodic meetings of representatives of signatory nations to take up occasional problems. Such meetings have agreed upon important measures for conservation of Antarctic flora and fauna and for the preservation of historic sites. The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements are collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). The granting of consultative status within the Antarctic Treaty, permitting full participation in its operation with that of the original 12 contracting states, depends on long-term scientific commitment. It began in 1977 with the addition of Poland, followed by West Germany (1981) and Brazil and India (1983). Several other nations have also acceded to the treaty and have been granted partial status. As of 2015 the treaty had 29 consultative parties (including the original signatories) and 25 nonconsultative parties.

Post-IGY research

In order to continue and coordinate the international Antarctic scientific effort in the post-IGY period, ICSU in September 1957 organized the Special Committee on Antarctic Research, or SCAR. (In 1961 the word Scientific was substituted for Special.) The foundations for the committee were laid at its first meeting, in The Hague in 1958. SCAR, a politically independent body, coordinates not only research activities in Antarctica itself but also, through ICSU, those Antarctic programs that relate to worldwide projects, such as the International Years of the Quiet Sun (1964–65), the International Biological Programme (1964–74), and the World Climate Research Programme (begun in 1980). It also advises the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Representatives of member nations attend business meetings and biennial open science conferences to bring scientists together across disciplines. Disciplinary groups and subgroups under SCAR also meet regularly for international symposia, with a timetable dependent upon progress in each discipline. The great success of the political venture of the Antarctic Treaty depends in no small way on the achievements of SCAR and of the scientific and support teams in the field and laboratory.

Scientific knowledge of Antarctica has increased steadily. Many important problems relating to knowledge of the entire Earth are best resolved in the polar region, such as studying the stratosphere’s ozone layer. Many of the topics of modern polar research could not even have been guessed at in the early 20th century. At that time no one could have foreseen the advent of jet aircraft, turbine-powered helicopters, ski-planes, data-recording machines powered by radioactive isotopes, drones, and polar-orbiting satellites that automatically collect meteorological and upper atmospheric data across the continent and transmit it to a base collection station. The polar knowledge gained in the decades during and after IGY have far outweighed that of earlier decades. The advances in modern Antarctic science have only been made possible by adapting to polar operation the great technological advances in aircraft, oceanographic technique, and remote data acquisition and telemetry systems (unstaffed weather stations, satellite surveillance, and the like). For example, advances in airborne radio-echo sounding methods now allow routine mapping of Antarctica’s ice-covered bedrock surface by aircraft, a task that previously required laborious seismic surveys from tracked vehicles across the ice sheets.

During the period of the Antarctic Treaty there has been a steady growth in the number and nature of cooperative international scientific projects and research efforts (such as the International Antarctic Glaciological Project, Dry Valley Drilling Project, Biomass [Biological Investigations of Antarctic Systems and Stocks], and IceCube [South Pole Neutrino Observatory]). Additional scientific endeavours included the various SCAR working groups and, notably, a collection of interdisciplinary projects and international observing networks, such as the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS).

In addition to these internationally supported programs, there have been major increases in individual national programs, mostly among those countries with territorial interests in the continent but also among countries that had not for decades (or ever) supported programs there. This latter group included Italy, which mounted its first expedition during 1975–76; Uruguay, which made its first land expedition in 1975; Poland, which established marine and land programs during 1976–77; West Germany, which first undertook large-scale operations in 1980–81. In the 1980s the number of countries investing in Antarctic research programs grew rapidly. India, for example, began work in the early 1980s; South Korea established its first station in 1988; and China, which established its first station in 1984, started construction on its fifth in 2018.

Virtually all the physical sciences are represented in the studies carried out under these programs, often having a direct impact on such disparate fields as meteoritics and planetary geology, continental drift, geophysics, astrophysics, meteorology and climate history, or biology and population studies. The biological programs reflect both the inherent interest of the Antarctic subjects themselves and the interest elsewhere in the world in ecology and conservation. The history of Antarctic whaling had made apparent to scientists the necessity of conserving biological populations, and the area below 60° S had long contained nature reserves of greater or lesser extent, but the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR, established in 1982) gave special impetus to the principle.

As noted above, geologic and geophysical studies led to an expectation that Antarctica probably has a mineral and petroleum potential similar to that of other continents, though nothing of possible economic interest has ever been found. Environmental and political concerns over the commercial exploration and eventual development of such resources if found led, after six years of arduous negotiations, to the June 1988 signing in New Zealand of a new Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA), also known as the Wellington Convention, by the representatives of 33 nations. The consultative parties designed CRAMRA to manage the exploitation and development of Antarctica’s nonrenewable resources, a subject not covered under the original 1959 Antarctic Treaty. Several nations soon raised strong objections, and the convention was short-lived. Ensuing consultative party meetings on the Antarctic Treaty in Paris (1989) and Chile (1990) overturned the CRAMRA agreements and called for a complete and permanent ban on all mineral resource activities in Antarctica.

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The Madrid Protocol

CRAMRA did not enter into force. Instead, parties finalized a new legally binding agreement in Madrid in October 1991, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (also known as the Madrid Protocol). It entered into force in 1998 and designated Antarctica “as a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science.”

Article VII of the Madrid Protocol bans mining, stating that “any activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research, shall be prohibited.” While this article can potentially be reviewed in 2048, legal safeguards preclude the ban from being lifted without a legally binding regime regulating such activities within the framework of the Antarctic Treaty (especially Article IV on territorial sovereignty) being in place.

The Madrid Protocol also regulates all activities of its signatories on the continent that may have an impact on the environment, including the introduction of non-native species, the building and management of research infrastructure, the restriction of human access to certain areas, and the regulation of human interaction with fauna and flora. In addition, it has ordered the removal of all dogs from the continent. Because of the increasing complexity of Antarctic Treaty meetings and the growing number of parties, an Antarctic Treaty Secretariat was established in Buenos Aires in 2004.

Post-Protocol Developments

The fourth International Polar Year (2007–08) brought renewed attention to Earth’s polar regions and their role in the global system. It led to new investments in research infrastructure and programs in Antarctica and further expanded the scope of Antarctic scientific programs, especially in terms of understanding global environmental change. Unlike the previous polar years, it also included programs within the social sciences, humanities, and medicine. Disciplines such as literature studies, history, political science, archaeology, heritage studies, and ethnology have had an established presence at SCAR Open Science Conferences ever since.

Whereas the Madrid Protocol applies to terrestrial and coastal areas in the Antarctic Treaty Area, it was under the auspices of CCAMLR that 24 nations and the EU negotiated another milestone in Antarctic environmental protection—the proclamation of the Ross Sea region marine protected area. Albeit much reduced from its original proposed scope, the agreement, which was signed in October 2016 and entered into force in December 2017, covers 600,000 square miles (1.55 million square km) of ocean, including the Ross Ice Shelf, the Balleny Islands, and the ocean surrounding two seamounts.