China also “gives preference to the use of the resources in Antarctica that are worth protecting over scientific arguments,” complained Özdemir.
At the meeting in the South Australian port city of Hobart, the member states were again unable to agree on a new marine protected area in Antarctica. A proposal drawn up by Germany for a protected area of around two million square kilometers in the Antarctic Weddell Sea also failed again due to resistance from Russia and China, as the Ministry of Agriculture announced.
Özdemir emphasized that the time for establishing appropriate protected areas “is running out.” The extraordinary ecosystems in the Southern Ocean are “invaluable in the fight against the climate crisis and species extinction,” he said. Therefore, large-scale protected areas need to be created there “urgently”.
There has been a dispute over such a protected area for years, and China and Russia are considered to be the main blockers. The two countries have cited concerns about control mechanisms for the protected areas and the impact on fishing rights.
The proposal for the designation had already been put to the CCAMLR for a vote several times. The commission has a total of 27 members, including Germany and the EU. Resolutions can only be passed unanimously. In 2009 and 2016, the Commission approved protected areas in the South Orkney Islands and the Antarctic Ross Sea.
The waters around Antarctica are considered one of the last untouched maritime ecosystems. In addition to many species of seals, whales and seabirds, Adelie and emperor penguins as well as gigantic swarms of krill live there. Scientists there are researching, among other things, the effects of climate change.
