Ireland and the Antarctic Treaty System

Hughes, Kevin A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2701-726X; Hughes, Katherine A.. 2024 Ireland and the Antarctic Treaty System. Antarctic Science, 36 (5). 398 -418. 10.1017/S0954102024000312

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Text (Open Access) © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antarctic Science Ltd. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. ireland_and_the_antarctic_treaty_system.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (811kB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

Ireland has a rich Antarctic history, with Bransfield, Crozier, Shackleton, Crean and others acting as key Irish individuals in Antarctic exploration. Recognized as a source of Irish national pride, memorials, stamps, coins and a government research vessel all commemorate their polar feats. Today, a large proportion of Ireland's citizens visit the Antarctic region and Irish researchers produce high levels of academic outputs on Antarctic topics relative to many other nations. However, Ireland has not acceded to any Antarctic Treaty System instruments, despite a 20 year campaign to do so by cross-party Irish politicians. Ireland has the largest population of any nation in the European Union (EU) yet to accede to the Treaty and is much larger than some existing Treaty signatory states. However, Treaty accession provides no entitlement to participate in Antarctic governance, which is reserved for Consultative Parties, and therefore undertaking the associated legal and administrative work may be considered a poor use of available resources. Ireland's attainment of consultative status would be an even more complex and resource-intensive goal, but collaboration with the EU and other global partners could be a cost-effective solution that may also indirectly support Ireland's ambitions for Observer status at the Arctic Council.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1017/S0954102024000312
ISSN:	0954-1020
Additional Keywords:	CCAMLR, COMNAP, European Polar Board, non-Consultative Party, Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty SCAR
Date made live:	08 Nov 2024 15:29 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/538350

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