Argentina and Chile denounced that China and Russia blocked their proposal to create a marine protected area in the antarctic peninsulaan area of high biodiversity and a distribution point of the Southern Ocean, which is connected to all the bodies of salt water in the world.
The clash of positions occurred in Santiago de Chile, during the last summit of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), made up of 25 governments and the European Union (EU), which seeks to protect that biodiversity in the context of increasing predation on krill reserves, the group of small crustaceans that is the food base of almost all species in that region.
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In addition to protecting them, reducing the pressure on the peninsula would strengthen one of the fundamental roles of the white continent: climate regulation on a planetary scale. Although central countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and the EU itself have supported the establishment of a network of special areas for two decades, Russia and China open up systematically. Since decisions are made by consensus, proposals fail.
The reasons for the rejection were not made explicit, but the biologist Rodolfo Werner (advisor to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition), has its hypotheses. “In the case of China, it is perhaps more related to an extractionist vision and not wanting to have restrictions on access to resources,” he says. On the other hand, when the CCAMLR agreements were drawn up, the Asian giant “was a country very much within, different from the current situation”.
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The Russian rejection “has more to do with geopolitical issues; Saying “no” positions them in a place of power.” Nor does the war with Ukraine – another member country – help, which “generates many rocks” with the other adherent nations.
“It is very difficult to be talking about issues of conservation, peace and science when one member country attacks anotherWerner laments. For the panorama to begin to change, the promoters of Antarctic protection maintain the hope that the global good prevails over local interests.
FM J.L.
