Antarctica and the World Park Approach: A Prescription for Change

• Published in: The Journal of Environment & Development
• Main Author: Cioppa, Thomas J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1993
• Subjects: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law; Development; Geography, Planning and Development; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/107049659300200210; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/107049659300200210

The challenge of how best to manage the Antarctic is no small task. The fragility and unenforceability of the existing legal arrangement, coupled with the uncertainty of commercial mineral/hydrocarbon extraction and the need to protect an extremely fragile ecosystem, adds up to a series of dilemmas of immense proportion. This paper argues that the best solution for the continent is to make it into a World Park (or nature preserve). Viewing Antarctica as a common-pool resource, this paper outlines a specific set of normative elements that provide the foundation for a World Park Approach–an approach that offers equitable and environmentally sound solutions for both the continent and its suitors.