ABSTRACT
The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) comprises the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, the 1972 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, the 1980 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, and measures in force under these instruments. A number of intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and hybrid organizations such as International Union for Conservation of Nature have observer status. Globalization challenges its Antarctic exceptionalism model of governance, wherein issues were addressed through specific instruments negotiated under the ATS. Increasingly, there are pressures to leave regulation to market forces or administrative action, or to global instruments. Increasing scale, pace, and complexity of technology-enabled Antarctic activities, less constrained by Antarctica’s remoteness and harshness than in the past, require improved ATS institutional integration and instrumental coverage.
