The United States on Friday reaffirmed its commitment to protecting Antarctica because of its environmental importance, adding that it would consider expanding its icebreaker fleet to achieve its goals.
US President Joe Biden signed a new national security memorandum on Antarctica on Friday, which guides US policy in the region.
The new memorandum replaces the one that is still in force and which was drawn up in 1994, during the presidency of Bill Clinton (1993-2001).
The White House statement indicated that with the new memorandum, the United States wants to protect the Antarctic environment, preserve the region as a center of scientific research, preserve the continent as a zone of peaceful international cooperation and guarantee the preservation of ecosystems.
Washington further noted in the document that to ensure the effectiveness of the current system of governance of Antarctica, “the United States will continue to use all available tools, including the expansion of the polar icebreaker fleet.”
The United States, which has three research stations in Antarctica, indicated that thanks to the treaty system governing the region, it was able to conduct “15 surprise inspections of facilities” located on the continent.
“We remain vigilant against actions by countries that could jeopardize US national interests by causing international discord in the Antarctic region,” the White House assured.
The signing of the memorandum will take place a few days before the start of the 46th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in India on May 20, which will be attended by 12 countries that signed the agreement in 1959 (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France). , Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Great Britain, USA and Russia), as well as several dozen other countries.
Also this week, the Chilean government assured it would “continue to firmly defend” the preservation of Antarctica after it was announced that Russia had discovered huge oil and gas reserves in territory claimed by Chile, Argentina and Britain.
“Unconfirmed news appears from time to time about mineral and hydrocarbon reserves in Antarctica. The Antarctic regime prohibits their search and exploration. And Chile, like other Antarctic countries, will continue to firmly defend the preservation of Antarctica,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile emphasized. Alberto van Klaveren in a post on social network X.
British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported this week that British MPs fear Moscow will try to extract oil from parts of this southern territory.
The concerns are based on the fact that four years ago, the Russian geological agency Rosgeologia acknowledged research by the Russian polar research vessel Alexander Karpinsky into the presence of some 70 billion tons of oil and gas buried under the Antarctic shelf.
According to a British newspaper cited by Efe, the reserves will contain about 511 billion barrels of oil, which is about 10 times greater than North Sea production over the past 50 years.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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