Researchers fear that plans to build a giant canopy to protect the Antarctic ice shelf could spark political tensions between countries.
Antarctica loses about 17 million tons of ice every hour. Image: Mozgova
In a situation where the polar regions are melting at breakneck speed, scientists came up with the idea of building a giant underwater curtain around the ice shelf to protect the world from rising sea levels. In a study published in the journal International Affairs, a group of international relations experts warned that this plan could lead to many unprecedented problems, IFL Science reported on November 26.
The plan proposed in a January 2024 article in the journal Nature calls for the construction of a 100-meter-high floating canopy anchored to the seabed, stretching 80 kilometers around the most at-risk ice shelves such as the West Ice Shelf. Antarctica. The paper’s authors admit they’re not entirely sure whether the idea will work, but say it’s a solution that needs to be explored to prevent rising sea levels over the next few decades.
In new research, some experts say that the above mega geoengineering project has the potential to turn Antarctica into a “subject of discord in the international arena”. Dozens of countries signed the Antarctic Treaty System in 1959, banning military activity, nuclear testing and mining in the region. Seven countries including Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and Britain have claimed territorial sovereignty in Antarctica, but their claims are invalidated by the treaty.
According to research results, the Ice Sheet Curtain project could upset long-term peace by stirring up new controversies about sovereignty, responsibility and security. Although the Antarctic Treaty System sets aside territorial claims, it does not help resolve disputes, so activities such as geoengineering can be equated with serving certain national interests, according to Shibata Akiho, international law researcher at Kobe University, Japan.
Kobe and his colleagues look at past disagreements to find out whether the situation can be handled. For example, the team points to a fierce controversy surrounding Antarctic mining that erupted in the 1980s, but was successfully resolved by the Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty. In 1991, mineral exploitation was strictly prohibited here.