China Sets Out a New Posture on Environmental Protection in Antarctica
China is adopting new environmental measures for its rising activities in Antarctica. Last week, the country’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), passed a law on Antarctic activities and environmental protection. The law has 59 articles and seeks to streamline Chinese missions in Antarctica.
A major emphasis of the law is on environmental protection. Researchers carrying out Chinese scientific work in Antarctica will now be required to submit environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for projects in the region. The EIAs should demonstrate protection for local animals and plants, a plan for waste disposal as well as measures to prevent marine pollution.
In adopting the law, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC said the framework fulfills China’s obligations under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. While China acceded to the Antarctic Treaty in 1983, it lacked a domestic law to guide its activities in the region. As a matter of common practice, most parties under the Antarctic Treaty system adopt a national law to ensure compliance with the international framework.
The adoption of the law coincided with the start of China’s 43rd Antarctic expedition, which set sail on Saturday from Nanshan Port in Sanya, Hainan Province. The expedition involves the Xuelong and Xuelong 2 research icebreakers as well as the oceanographic research vessel Dayang. Over 600 researchers and engineers are participating in the five-month-long mission.
An important activity during the expedition includes surveys and mapping work for support facilities for the planned new research station in Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica. The remote area spanning 1.6 million square kilometers is considered one of the least studied regions in the whole of Antarctica.
The proposed Marie Byrd Land station is set to become the sixth Chinese research base in Antarctica. Despite concerns from other Antarctic states, China maintains that there is no geopolitical motive behind its expansion of research facilities in the region.
But it is apparent that China is increasingly strengthening its influence in Antarctica as leverage to defend its interests. For years, China, together with Russia, has blocked attempts to create a marine protected area (MPA) around the Antarctic Peninsula. China is rapidly expanding its fleet for Antarctic krill fishing as it seeks to change the rules governing marine protection in the Southern Ocean.
This has been part of the discussion under the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the international body mandated to protect marine life in Antarctica. The organization has 27 member states and meets annually. This year, the meeting took place in Hobart, Australia, from 19 to 30 October.
China brought two notable proposals, which appear to challenge the Western-backed approach for marine protection in Antarctica. The first proposal is on the creation of a new 127,000 km2 MPA in East Antarctica’s Soviet-named Cosmonauts Sea. Western countries have been advocating for stronger environmental protections around the Antarctic Peninsula, which encompasses areas where industrial krill fishery is prevalent.
Krill fishing does not currently take place in the area proposed by Beijing. However, some observers have argued that the choice of Cosmonauts Sea signals Beijing’s continued strategic relationship with Russia in Antarctica. The name Cosmonauts Sea has not been adopted by the International Hydrographic Organization. The name has origins in the Soviet Antarctic expeditions back in the 1960s.
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The other proposal by China focuses on changes to CCAMLR’s MPA rulebook. This includes changes to the definition of what is considered an MPA. The protected areas are defined by restricting or prohibiting harvesting of a marine resource. In China’s proposal, an MPA could include rational use, which equates to sustainable harvesting of a marine resource.
China argued that MPAs should be designed to complement other conservation measures as opposed to replacing them. Although these proposals were not adopted at CCAMLR’s meeting last month, they could act as a bargaining chip for Beijing in future deliberations.
