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How Cautious is Precautious?: Antarctic Tourism and the Precautionary Principle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2008

Shirley V. Scott
Shirley V. Scott
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer, The University of New South Wales. This paper was written while a Visiting Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney.
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Extract

Literature on the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), particularly that written by citizens of States that are Consultative Parties to the Antarctic Treaty, has often been celebratory in character. The ATS, we have been told, is a model of international co-operation. The regime has prided itself on addressing issues ahead of crisis situations; and, since the conclusion, and subsequent entry into force, of the Environmental Protocol, with its protection of the Antarctic environment. This acclaim of the system that manages Antarctic affairs may be to a large extent warranted. Antarctica has remained peaceful and its value as a scientific laboratory has in recent years been enhanced through the contribution of Antarctic science to understanding environmental issues of global concern. But the environmental credentials of the Treaty System will be immeasurably weakened if it continues to display such a huge anomaly between its treatment of mining and that of tourism. Tourism is covered by only a very weak application of the precautionary principle while the application of the precautionary principle to the issue of mining has been ‘extreme’. The principal factor behind this anomaly appears to be political opportunism.

Type
Shorter Articles, Comments and Notes
Information
International & Comparative Law Quarterly , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , October 2001 , pp. 963 - 971
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2001

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