UNEP and the Antarctic Treaty System

This evolution of the ATS, and expansion of its area of interest beyond peaceful scientific cooperation on the Antarctic continent, has inevitably forced the ATS to consider the merits of developing linkages with a broader range of international organisations that may have expertise in areas that the Treaty parties are now in need of. To that end, the ATS has during the 1990s begun to develop more linkages with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Founded in 1972 following the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, UNEP has increasingly become a focus for environmental programmes within the UN system. UNEP first attended an ATCM as an observer in 1994 at which it indicated its willingness to cooperate, and offer its experience and assistance to Antarctic Treaty parties. In the same year, an international symposium of Antarctic experts meeting to consider the future of the ATS, recommended that 'Consideration be given to closer cooperation with relevant United Nations specialised agencies and programmes, in particular UNEP'. Since that time, UNEP has repeated its offer to the ATS that avenues for cooperation be further explored. On its face, the potential for possible cooperation between the ATS and UNEP seems vast. The ATS and the institutions created around the system has expertise in dealing with Antarctic affairs while UNEP has expertise in dealing with environmental affairs, and especially in providing assistance to States in dealing with environmental problems and meeting their international environmental obligations. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to explore the recent engagement between the ATS and UNEP, and then to consider the possibilities and benefits associated with enhanced interaction between the two.