The continent’s remarkable history of international co-operation took a major step forward 30 years ago next week, with the signing of the snappily-titled Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.
This agreement, signed or ratified by 45 nations since coming into force in October 1991, effectively bans all commercial mining operations on the continent and guarantees its future as a “wilderness with aesthetic and scientific value”.
On a planet where wars are fought for territorial advantage measured in mere metres, Antarctica’s sustained status as a uniquely protected territory is, perhaps, cause for optimism.
