Page 24 RAIN July 1982 The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 established the continent as a zone of peace and co-operative scientific endeavor . . . The success of the Antarctic Treaty System, relative to other international arrangements elsewhere in the world, has rested on its avoidance of confrontation on the complicated sovereignty issue. This has enabled a spirit of co-operation for scientific endeavor which could easily be jeopardized by any further political settlement in aid of exploitation. One claimant state began the negotiations by insisting that its sovereignty be recognized before the Antarctic Treaty could be extended to include mineral resources. Conflicting claims over territory just north of the Treaty area have already led to gunfire. In February 1976 an Argentine destroyer fired warning shots across the bows of the British research vessel Shackleton. According to the Argentinians, the British were conducting geological surveys with a view to oil exploitation on the continental shelf off the sorely contested Falkland Islands. It should be remembered that Argentina's vehement claims to the peninsula area are directly related to the dispute over the Falklands. from: Antarctica: Wilderness at Risk, by Barney Brewster, 1982,125 pp., $14.95 from Friends of the Earth, 1045 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA 94111 Territorial claims in the Antarctic region. Though shelved by Treaty agreement, the issue ofclaims has not yet been resolved—and probably never can be given, for example, the conflicting claims in the peninsula area. RAIN 2270 NW Irving, Portland, OR 97210 (503)227-5110
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