France Urges Antarctic ‘Nature Reserve’

PARIS —  U.S. support for an international agreement on the exploitation of oil and mineral resources in Antarctica faced formidable opposition Monday at the opening of a 39-nation conference on Antarctica.

French Prime Minister Michel Rocard set the tone for the meeting, a review of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty that will expire in 1991, by proposing that Antarctica be converted into a “nature reserve” to protect it from mining and other infringement on the fragile environment.

“The Antarctic Treaty system is entering a new era,” Rocard told delegates in a speech opening the two-week conference. “That system can be enhanced and consolidated by ensuring that its environment is more effectively protected, for example, by means of a nature reserve.”

U.S. Opposition

The proposal is opposed by the Bush Administration, which supports the 1988 Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities. The convention would permit controlled exploration of natural resources on the South Pole continent, an area the size of the United States and Mexico combined.

In June, 1988, the convention was initialed in Wellington, New Zealand, by representatives of 33 nations, but since then no nation has ratified the agreement. Several, notably France and Australia, have changed their positions.

U.S. officials, who argue that the agreement is necessary to avoid an “unregulated scramble” of mineral prospectors in Antarctica, were surprised in August, when Rocard and Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke made a joint declaration announcing their opposition to the minerals convention.

Since then, France and Australia have been joined by Italy, Belgium and India. Brazil and Mexico are also said to oppose ratification. As a result, the United States may find it difficult to use the Paris meeting to rally other countries around the convention.

“The American delegation is even at odds with its own Congress,” underwater explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau said, referring to a resolution proposed by Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.). It would postpone U.S. ratification of the convention until it has been exhaustively studied.

“The U.S. delegation is the only one that still supports the convention,” said Cousteau, a pioneering explorer of the region and leader of the French opposition to the minerals convention. “I think it is fighting a losing battle.”

Environmentalists dispute the Bush Administration theory that failure to ratify the convention will result in a flood of mineral prospectors in the region. For one thing, they contend that there are no proven reserves of valuable resources, although there are thought to be substantial deposits of oil and platinum there.

“A lot of the countries that support ratification raise the specter of an unregulated scramble to the continent,” said James N. Barnes, executive director of the Antarctica Project, a Washington-based coalition of 20 environmental groups opposed to development of the continent.

“But if you talk to companies, or particularly to the bankers, and ask them if they would be willing to finance unregulated exploration, they say no. What they are looking for is a framework that guarantees them the right to be there. That is what the minerals convention would give them.”

Barnes termed the conference a “landmark meeting that could be the most important conference of the decade.” He said that “if things go well, this meeting could set the tone for the next decade.”

International alarm over the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and another, smaller but nonetheless damaging spill of diesel fuel by an Argentine supply ship in Antarctica in January, has turned public opinion against development of the polar regions.

In his speech Monday, Prime Minister Rocard reflected a growing emphasis on environmental issues in France and other European countries, where environmentalist candidates have scored well in recent elections.

‘More Acute Awareness’

“For a long time,” Rocard said, “the protection of the environment was a subject of concern to a few public figures, acting more or less in isolation, and a number of associations or movements. What we are seeing now is a more acute awareness of this requirement among political leaders.”

Rocard said the French and Australian governments would jointly sponsor a proposal to convene a special consultative meeting early next year to consider the conversion of Antarctica into a “nature reserve.” The proposal is expected to contain provisions for an international Antarctic environmental protection agency, a corps of rangers to police the continent and an arbitration body to hear disputes between nations.

After delivering his speech, Rocard made a point of walking the length of the conference room to pose for photographs with Cousteau and Paul Emile Victor, another French polar explorer.