This book is not about “science diplomacy” in any general sense. It is, instead, a valuable collection of papers arising from the Antarctic Treaty Summit held in Washington in 2009 to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty on 1 December 1959. It concentrates on celebrating the origins and development of the Antarctic Treaty and its associated legal instruments (the Antarctic Treaty System - ATS). There is also comparison of the ATS with some other international legal regimes with emphasis on outer space and the Arctic. A partial review of key science outcomes and future directions for science in Antarctica is provided, and the role and importance of Non Governmental Organizations (both environmental and tourism) in the development of the ATS is covered. Given that “the governance of international spaces” figures in the subtitle to the volume, it is surprising that there is only one contribution devoted to this topic (Young), though the latter is a substantial offering. Prince Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, gave the opening address to the Summit and has contributed the Foreword. The volume is rounded off by a series of appendices and a useful index. The appendices consist of the texts of resolutions passed by the US Senate and House of Representatives to mark the 50th anniversary, a signed affirmation from the Secretary General of the UN, and the text of the “Forever Declaration” made at the summit meeting. These appendices require no comment from me, they speak for themselves!
The book consists of review/summary type articles presented either by the invited keynote speakers, or panellists who participated in the discussion sessions. Mostly the contributions are weighty, although there is a handful that could better be described as extended abstracts. Curiously, the organization of the material does not follow that of the Summit, either in its order, its grouping or the headings under which the papers are grouped. Why this has been done is not clear, but neither the new sequence of papers nor the groups into which they have been placed enhance the volume in any way. Rather the new headings seem contrived and do not generally succeed in providing a coherent thread to link the contributions. It would have been more in keeping with the material to have used the original session headings (which are at least given in the preface). Having said that, the Summit pulled together a very eclectic group of “the great and the good”, who together span many years of experience and leadership in Antarctic diplomacy, law, operations, programme management and science management. There were also several notable scientists present. As a result many of the papers are works of significant scholarship that provide valuable new insights on the past, present and future of the ATS and some of the science done in or from the Antarctic. Together they give a good summary of where Antarctic science and diplomacy stand as the Treaty embarks on its second half century.
Analysis of the fundamental importance, and strengths and weaknesses of Article IV of the treaty (the territorial truce) is a recurring theme. Article IV stands at the heart of the treaty and several authors provide valuable discussion of where this article might figure in the future in such potential threats to the stability of the Treaty as bio-prospecting, continental shelf exploitation and whaling in the Southern Ocean.
There are four valuable summaries of key science outcomes and their links to policy making by leading scientists. The climate record from the Vostok ice core is discussed by Petit whilst Rintoul covers the oceanography of the Southern Ocean. Stark provides a very nice summary of the developing science of cosmology from Antarctica showing how study of the cosmic microwave background from there has demonstrated that we live in a “flat” universe. Finally, Solomon & Chanin describe the formation of the ozone hole, contrast it with stratospheric behaviour in the Arctic and show how the science informed policymaking. The ozone story is nicely rounded off by Sarma & Anderson in their contribution on the way science and diplomacy worked in synergy in creating and maintaining the vitality of the Montreal Protocol.
A particular highlight is the paper on the origins and development of the Committee for Environmental Protection by Orhiem, Press & Gilbert (the former chairs of the CEP). They show both the power of the CEP and the threats posed to its effectiveness by overload and the limitations of the AT, themselves having their roots ultimately in Article IV. Similarly, the recently retired Executive Secretary of CCAMLR (Miller) provides an excellent summary of its work. Huber, former Executive Secretary of the ATS, gives a thoughtful resume of the weaknesses of the ATS, particularly in regard to bringing agreed Measures into operation in a timely fashion and in actually meeting commitments on exchange of information. Again these limitations can be traced in some measure to the restrictions imposed by Article IV.
The final paper in the volume by three of the editors is simply entitled “Conclusions”. Readers might reasonably expect to find the various threads of the conference and the preceding papers drawn together here. They would be disappointed. Whilst the paper is interesting and thought provoking it appears to be summarizing what the authors hoped the meeting would be about, rather than the actuality. It is a pity that it was not given a more appropriate title!
This is a curiously flawed volume from an editorial viewpoint, but individually most of the contributions are worthy and will provide a very valuable family of reference material for scholars.
