Antarctica and all of its emperor penguins, leopard seals, blue whales, and towering mountains have been set aside for protection under international agreements. This agreement has been in effect since 1998. Plus, mining and oil drilling have been banned in this region for 50 years. This is the coldest place on Earth and is the most pristine ecosystem around. The protection focuses on conservation rather than developing the continent. Dogs and pesticides are prohibited by these policies, including other threats to the wildlife.
The agreement in question is titled the Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctica Treaty. The treaty is basically an agreement made by nations of the world to leave this place free of all industrial and commercial development. A large part of Europe, Brazil, India, China, Japan, Russia, and the U.S. were some of the 26 countries that approved the accord in 1991 to preserve the region for scientific research only.
Prior to the signing of the treaty, lobbyists from environmental organizations had worked for fifteen years to discuss and formulate the regulations outlined in the accord. The rules banned oil drilling and mining. It requires that the nations who run Antarctica's 35 scientific research outposts clean out their garbage dumps. Further, tourist vessels and scientific stations are prohibited from discharging raw sewage into the waters surrounding Antarctica.
The first person to get to the South Pole was Norwegian Roald Amundsen in 1911 and he used sled dogs to get around. The accord, however, prohibits any dogs on the continent, as penguins and other native fowl have been killed by pets belonging to researchers. Also banned were pesticides, polystyrene packaging and non-sterile soil.
There is ice that is more than one mile thick over the land and it does not allow life to flourish much except for some grass and moss near the shore. The ice that covers the land of Antarctica has 70 percent of the freshwater of the earth. The surrounding water is rich with whales, sea birds, seals and fish.
While it's one of the coldest places on this earth, it is also the most fragile. Since the temperature is almost always below zero, it takes a long time for anything to grow. The land takes years to recover from any damage inflicted on it. For instance, a footprint in a bed of moss may remain the same for 10 years.
The first Antarctic Treaty was ratified in 1959, and made nuclear and military activities illegal in Antarctica. The treaty also proclaimed that no nation would own Antarctica and outlined the regulations for research. While no country may possess Antarctica, literally every square inch of the land is claimed by some country or the other.
Once scientists found a rather large concentration of offshore oil reserves, as well as abundant mineral deposits that led environmental lobbyists to advocate laws for conservation ever since the 1980s. In the 1970's during the energy crisis, several companies even started discussions about the feasibility of Arctic drilling. With the price of oil going up and technology becoming more advanced, it's possible that further interest will be felt.
Each of the 26 nations involved will enforce the rules on their own. If one country has a person that goes against the rules there will be pressure from the other nations for that nation to rectify the problem. This agreement has been considered a success story for the environment by a lot of people.
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