Climate Change (CC) and Resilience of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS)

FRANCISCO TUÑEZ; GRABRIEL DE PAULA

Ushuaia

Conferencia; Antarctic Connections at the End of the World: Understanding the Past and Shaping the Future; 2019

SC-HASS SCAR y CADIC-CONICET

weidentify Climate Change as a multiplier of global risks in terms ofinternational security, since its effects impact on migrationprocesses, the availability of strategic natural resources, globalecosystems, natural phenomena, etc. If we add to this factor theexpansion of a global economy based on the'extraction-production-consumption-waste' scheme and the growth ofthe world population, we can expect a growing pressure on theavailability of natural resources in the coming years. This will havedeep effects on the world order in general and on internationalrelations in particular. Wetake some international trends in order to present a prospectiveanalysis and develop a proposal of policymaking bylooking at these factors from a geopolitical perspective. Aboutpolicymaking, in this scenario the ATS faces the dilemma of eithermaintaining the current governance scheme or redesigning itsstructure, in order to respond to the challenges posed by a worldwith high levels of uncertainty. So, we need to discuss how theOrganization is able to manage institutionally the Antarcticactivities of the nations with vested interests in the continent, andothers that would want or need to join the system in the near future.We will briefly analyse the evolution of the Antarctic Treaty andrelated agreements in past, in order to reach a work plan in linewith the current situation.