Word: zealand
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...future. "It is now clear that the continent's isolation no longer protects it from the impact of man," declares Bruce Manheim, a biologist with the Environmental Defense Fund. How best to protect Antarctica has been a topic of fierce debate in meetings from Washington to Wellington, New Zealand. Everyone agrees that the issue is of great importance and urgency. Despite the damage done so far, Antarctica is still largely pristine, the only wild continent left on earth. There scientists can study unique ecosystems and climatic disturbances that influence the weather patterns of the entire globe. The research being done...
...postwar German government did not press the Nazis' claim, but seven other nations with histories of Antarctic exploration -- Argentina, Chile, France, New Zealand, Britain, Norway and Australia -- maintained that parts of the continent belonged to them. Some of the claims overlapped: Chile, Britain and Argentina, for example, all declared their ownership of the Antarctic Peninsula. The U.S., while making no claims, refused to recognize those of other nations and organized numerous expeditions, including the largest in Antarctic history. Mounted in 1946 and called Operation Highjump, it was a naval exercise involving 13 ships, 50 helicopters and nearly 5,000 service...
...scheduled to take advantage of the peak of sunspot activity predicted for 1957 and 1958. Sixty-seven countries joined in this exhaustive study of the interactions between the sun and earth. Much of the research went on in Antarctica, where Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Britain, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the U.S. and the Soviet Union established bases...
While scientists try to clean up their act, tourists are posing an increasing threat to Antarctica's delicate ecosystems. Chilean planes began flying visitors to the peninsula in 1956, and luxury cruises started a decade later. Although commercial flights stopped after an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashed into Mount Erebus in 1979, killing all 257 aboard, ship travel has thrived. About 3,500 people, mostly Americans, paid $5,000 to $16,000 to sail over from South America last year. They generally stayed in Antarctica four or five days. Most boats carry naturalists or other experts, who give lectures...
...clear that there might someday be pressure to drill for petroleum, even in the harsh Antarctic environment. Eventually, the treaty nations decided it was best to have rules in effect before that happened. The result was the Wellington Convention, agreed to by representatives of 20 treaty nations in New Zealand's capital in June 1988. The document essentially forbids any mineral exploration or development without agreement by all treaty participants. But most environmentalists are disturbed by any accord that recognizes even the possibility of oil drilling. Naturalist Jacques-Yves Cousteau has called the Wellington Convention "nothing more than a holdup...