Antarctica ‘too wild for humans to rule’, says Shackleton medal winner

Cormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that may “change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica”. The huge frozen continent – house to emperor and Adélie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses – will have to be recognised as an self reliant felony entity “at least equivalent to a country”, says the environmental legal professional.

And this week that dream become one step nearer to fact as judges awarded Cullinan the Shackleton medal for the safety of the polar areas.

The prestigious prize, value £10,000, shines a mild on individuals who have proven “courage, determination, ingenuity and leadership” of their paintings to offer protection to the polar areas, indicating Cullinan’s radical plan to undertake and put into effect an Antarctica Declaration is gaining momentum.

Cullinan, who’s based totally in South Africa and was once as soon as an anti-apartheid activist, completed reputation for his paintings combating, continuously effectively, for felony programs to recognise the rights of rivers, forests and issues “other than human beings” so that they might be defended in courtroom circumstances. The concept of giving species and puts felony “personhood”, defined in his 2002 e-book, Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, become a part of a wider international motion recognising rights of nature and animals.

Cullinan is now arguing that Antarctica as an entire will have to have this felony personhood, ideally at state degree. “We have to shift how people relate to Antarctica,” he says. “It’s absolutely essential to protect it, not just for itself, which is obviously valid, but also for humanity.”

Instead of being handled via the global group and legislation courts as a “territory claimed by a number of countries that stuck flags in the ice a while ago … at best, a laboratory and at worst, a potential source of oil, gas, minerals and krill”, he desires Antarctica to be legally safe as “an astounding living community” and “a being in its own right”.

“It should be obvious that Antarctica is far too wild and fierce for humans to rule,” he says. “It should be seen as what it is: sovereign unto itself.”

Antarctica is ruled via the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), a framework created in 1959 and signed via 58 nations. This promises that the continent is used completely for non violent functions, comparable to science and conservation. It was once an excellent fulfillment on the time, Cullinan says, when there have been proposals to mine Antarctica and nations in battle over their competing claims.

Now the important thing demanding situations Antarctica faces rise up from the local weather disaster, one thing brought about via actions some distance out of doors its geographical limitations.

At the similar time, nations comparable to China and Russia have persistently blocked conservation measures such because the introduction of latest marine safe spaces. “There’s impasse within the system, Cullinan says, while from an ecological perspective, the situation is deteriorating very fast and scientists are saying we have to take urgent, decisive action.”

The objective of pointing out Antarctica a felony entity and surroundings out its rights is to create corresponding responsibilities for different nations – and global organisations such because the UN – to appreciate the ones rights. “An iceberg doesn’t really care whether you think it has rights or not. The issue is: are there human duties to respect the integrity of the ice-sheet fields?”

If the Antarctic ice sheet melted completely, it might carry international sea ranges via about 58 metres. In 2020, a piece of writing within the magazine Nature estimated that even a 1-metre upward push would put “48% of the world’s land area, 52% of the global population and 46% of global assets” vulnerable to flooding.

“It can’t be left to a small group of countries to make decisions about Antarctica,” says Cullinan, who helped to draft the 2010 Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth and co-founded the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.

“If human beings lived there, who were indigenous to Antarctica, they would have a government who could represent them in climate change negotiations or biodiversity conventions. And that government would be a powerful voice, because Antarctica and the Southern Ocean covers a 10th of the surface of the planet.”

But Antarctica has no voice, he says. “It’s not represented in these decision-making bodies – and the countries that govern it under the ATS still argue from a national perspective, and take decision-making positions for their own national interests, while scientists and other people who really love Antarctica and are deeply committed to protecting it get blocked.”

The Antarctica Declaration would, against this, recognise that every one Antarctic beings have rights that humanity should appreciate and give protection to. People all over the world are being invited to enhance it and claim a brand new felony standing of “personhood” for Antarctica. “It could then be represented,” says Cullinan.

“It could have a seat at the table, it could initiate lawsuits or join lawsuits around the world to prevent further greenhouse emissions.”

The award will lend a hand carry much-needed consciousness concerning the Antarctica Declaration, he provides. “It will bring this initiative to the attention of people in a way that would have otherwise taken us years to achieve, and connect us to a network of polar explorers and Antarctic experts we can perhaps persuade to join us.

“We’ve got a very strong core group, but we need to build a global movement around this – we need to show that Antarctica is everybody’s concern.”