ABSTRACT
In 1982, the international community first voiced its collective concern over the unimpeded despoliation of Nature. The General Assembly passed the United Nations World Charter for Nature that year. President Mobutu Sese Seko first proposed the idea to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1975. The Antarctic Treaty applies to the Antarctic and the oceans around it. The initial treaty was subsequently expanded in 1972, 1980, and later to limit human impact on the fragile Antarctic environment, protect wildlife, and put in place a regime of international cooperation and management of the living resources. In 1969, the United Nations passed a Moratorium Resolution to halt any efforts to mine the seabed until an international legal framework could be put in place. The Common Heritage Principle continues to evolve in international law, with more interest in the 1960s and 1970s during controversies over deep-seabed exploitation, and less in subsequent decades.
