PTI

Antarctic Treaty has lessons for climate change

Sun, Nov 29 01:48 PM

Prasun Sonwalkar London, Nov 29 (PTI) Fifty years after the signing of the Antarctic Treaty which turned the continent into a "pole of peace", organisers of a major international conference say it could now provide lessons for managing climate change. The Antarctic Treaty Summit will be held at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, from November 30 to December 1, before the Copenhagen summit.

The historic agreement which turned Antarctica into a "pole of peace" could become the blueprint for managing Earth''s resources amid rapid climate change, organisers behind a 50th anniversary conference have said. Writing before of the summit,Professor Paul Berkman of the University of Cambridge''s Scott Polar Research Institute, who will chair the event, urges world leaders to use its "visionary precedent" as a model for future co-operation between states.

The Treaty was agreed against the tide of global politics just as the Cold War was approaching its darkest hour, bringing together nations from both sides of the divide, including the Soviet Union and the United States. In spite of their differences, they agreed that no single country should be allowed to claim sovereignty over Antarctica, which became a protected international space for the sake of peace and scientific collaboration.

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