Antarctica, the most isolated continent on Earth, may become the biggest reason for a possible conflict among the nations in the future. The frozen inhabitable continent has remained a wonder for human civilization and was also a victim of expansionist visions of the colonial powers.
Countries like Argentina, Australia, France, Britain etc once claimed their authority on the land. After it they began taking hold of the continent by establishing more and more scientific research centers there.
The countries made certain border lines and declared some parts of the continent as their territory and demanded other countries to recognise those territories.
Many countries refused to recognise them as the borders were overlapping with one another. So in order to prevent any conflict and to stop the issue of Antarctica getting mixed up with the Cold War, the Antarctic Treaty was signed in the year 1959.
Provisions of the treaty
The treaty barred all the nations from annexing Antarctica, this treaty made Antarctica a countryless continent that should only be used for research, later many more treaties were signed which banned mining and other activities over the continent to preserve the natural habitat of Antarctica.
The Issue
The Antarctic treaty will expire in the year 2048, and hence it will again start the race for expansions and also crude.
According to studies Antarctica has over 500 billion barrels of crude that could be procured from there.
Antarctica’s surrounding oceania is also a home to vast amounts of fisheries, making it an epicenter of revenue.
Countries like China have already started annexing waters near Antarctica and are also accused of doing heavy fishing there. More and more countries with lust for power and expansionist ambitions will also try to get dominance over the 5th largest continent.
These all points signify that there is a possibility that many countries will refuse to renew the Antarctic treaty and will opt to use the Antarctic for commercial purposes. The current global economic warfare which is all set to increase in future will add fuel to the fire.
Also, when talking about fuel one must not forget that in future there would be scarcity of it, and all the nations will not be able to just remain dependent on the Middle-East for crude. Their thirst for fuel will produce the demand for mining in the Antarctic.
Conclusion
The future of Antarctica is trembling, all if its hopes are relying on the Antarctic Treaty. If the treaty gets renewed it will be a win-win situation but if it doesn’t, then it will become a grave threat not only for Antarctica but for all the world.
This could also trigger a massive global armed conflict of nations for gaining the annexation of Antarctica and could also result in the third world war!