Arctic Yearbook 2013
Lackenbauer
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patterns, suggesting that ―any disturbance of the equilibrium of natural forces in this area might lead
to incalculable consequences … involving the deterioration of the conditions for human and other
forms of animal and plant life‖ (quoted in Dey 1992: 173). Furthermore, Indians expressed fears that
Cold War rivalries might spread to Antarctica and nuclear weapons testing in the region could
disrupt global atmospheric systems. Opposition to India‘s proposal for an international trusteeship
to oversee the southern continent provoked an uneasy alliance between the British Commonwealth
and Latin America. Despite their bitter sovereignty disputes over the Antarctic peninsular region,
they shared common concern that a UN resolution would undermine their claims and could set a
dangerous precedent for UN control over sovereignty territory. In the end, this opposition not only
undermined any Indian vision for an ―anti-imperial‖ coalition related to Antarctica but also set an
important precedent for the Antarctic Treaty signed in 1959 (Howkins, 2008).
The Antarctic Treaty System rendered moot India‘s ―post-colonial‖ aspirations (Dodds, 2006) for
the South Pole. With its attention diverted to wars with China and Pakistan in the 1960s and 70s,
India‘s Antarctic attention was confined to individual scientists participating in expeditions mounted
by other countries. After its attempts failed to include Antarctica as part of the ―common heritage of
mankind‖ during the negotiations related to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS
III, 1973-82), India decided that if it ―wish[ed] to influence the treaty nations … it needed to join
them‖ (Dey, 1992: 176; also Beck, 1983: 106-7). Given its interest in the southern continent‘s
mineral resources and its leadership position in the Non-Aligned Movement, India played the
leading role in ensuring that the plans of ―a select group of developed nations‖ to exploit
Antarctica‘s resources did not cut out the Third World (Dodds, 1997: 143). Accordingly, it
established a Department of Ocean Development to launch its first mission to Antarctica in 1981.
Two years later, India officially acceded to the ATS and was accorded consultative status – the first
developing, Asian country to do so, and the second Asian country to complete a scientific
expedition in Antarctica. This membership ―changed the character of the treaty from one that has to
do with an apparently ‗exclusive‘ club of rich nations to one that has much wider representation of
the poorer nations‖ (Dey, 1992: 173). While insisting that ―the evolving Treaty System should be
made more open and responsive to the viewpoints of all states,‖ India now ―robustly defended the
ATS and its handling of the management of Antarctic affairs‖ (Dodds, 1997: 150). Its active
participation in the tumultuous negotiations that produced the 1988 Convention on the Regulation
of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA) and its subsequent positions on mining
continued ―to be shaped by the competing demands of national interests, the international
community and regional concerns in South Asia‖ (Dodds, 1997: 154).
India launched its Arctic research program and mounted its first scientific expedition to the Arctic
Ocean in 2007, with a particular focus on climate change. Its four major objectives are:
1.
To study the hypothesized tele-connections between the Arctic climate and the Indian
monsoon by analyzing the sediment and ice core records from the Arctic glaciers and the
Arctic Ocean.
2.
To characterize sea ice in Arctic using satellite data to estimate the effect of global warming
in the northern polar region.