Protecting cold environments

Model answer

B

Model answer

Governments can create protected areas such as national parks. About two-thirds of Svalbard is protected in national parks and nature reserves, so mining and other damaging development is not allowed there.

Model answer

Directional drilling allows many wells to be drilled at different angles from a single small pad, so far less tundra is cleared than when each well needed its own site. In winter, oil companies build ice roads and ice pads, which melt away in spring and leave little trace on the fragile vegetation. Pipelines such as the Trans-Alaska Pipeline are raised on supports, some fitted with heat pipes, so the permafrost stays frozen and caribou can pass underneath, and the zigzag design lets the pipe move during earthquakes without breaking. Leak detection systems and shut-off valves limit the size of any spill, and since the Exxon Valdez disaster, oil tankers in the USA have had to have double hulls, reducing the risk of oil leaking into the sea.

Model answer

I largely agree that the Antarctic Treaty has been successful in protecting Antarctica from direct human damage, but it cannot protect the continent from every threat.

The Treaty, signed in 1959 by 12 countries and now joined by more than 50, has achieved a great deal. Antarctica has remained free of military conflict, and because territorial claims were frozen, no country has been able to exploit the continent's resources for itself. Nuclear explosions and the dumping of radioactive waste are banned. The Treaty has also encouraged international scientific cooperation, leading to discoveries such as the ozone hole in 1985 and ice-core records of past climates.

The agreements linked to the Treaty have strengthened this protection. The Madrid Protocol, signed in 1991, banned mining and made Antarctica a natural reserve devoted to peace and science. All activities now need an environmental impact assessment, and waste must be removed from the continent. CCAMLR sets limits on fishing for krill and toothfish, and in 2016 its members agreed to create a huge marine protected area in the Ross Sea. As a result, Antarctica remains the least developed continent on Earth.

However, there are important limitations. Tourism has grown rapidly and is largely self-regulated by the tour operators' association, IAATO, rather than by binding laws. Research stations themselves have impacts through fuel use, waste and buildings. Fishing for krill is increasing, and because decisions require the agreement of every member, proposals for new marine protected areas have been blocked for years. The mining ban could be reviewed from 2048, when pressure for resources may be greater. Most importantly, the Treaty cannot stop climate change, which is causing ice shelves such as Larsen B to collapse and affecting krill and penguin populations.

Overall, I agree to a large extent. The Treaty has been remarkably successful at preventing the military use, mining and uncontrolled exploitation that have damaged other regions, which is why Antarctica is still a wilderness. But its success is limited by its reliance on consensus and voluntary rules for tourism, and it has no power over global climate change, which is now the greatest threat to Antarctica.