01/05/2006 - Labor’s
Environment Spokesperson, Anthony Albanese is
misleading the Australian people with his calls
for Antarctica to be added to the World Heritage
List.
Mr Albanese and the Australian
Labor Party should know that a nomination of Antarctica
by Australia is not possible under the very Convention
that creates World Heritage.
If it were possible, one could
ask why it didn’t happen when Labor was in Government.
Article 11 of the World Heritage Convention provides
that a nation may only submit to the World Heritage
Committee a nomination of a property 'situated
in its territory'.
The Australian Antarctic Territory
(AAT) does not encompass the whole of the Antarctic
continent. Therefore Australia could not nominate
the whole of Antarctica for inclusion on the World
Heritage List.
Had Mr Albanese done his homework he would know
that Australia’s claim over its own Antarctic
Territory is not universally recognised internationally.
Therefore a nomination of the AAT on its own would
not be recognised by other nations.
More importantly, any environmental
benefits to Antarctica that could arise from world
heritage status have already been achieved, indeed
exceeded, by other international legal obligations.
These primarily consist of the
1959 Antarctic Treaty, the 1982 Convention on
the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
and the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection
to the Antarctic Treaty (known as the Madrid Protocol)
which, among other things, prohibits mining in
Antarctica.
Together, these instruments
comprise the backbone of the Antarctic Treaty
system and provide comprehensive protection for
the environment of Antarctica and the Southern
Ocean.
Australia remains a strong supporter
of the Madrid Protocol and is committed to protecting
the unique Antarctic environment.
