Great geopolitics, economic interests of states and advanced science – all this is closely intertwined in Antarctica. Currently, countries actively discuss the need for constructive international cooperation on polar regions. During the round table “State interests of Ukraine in polar regions: at the intersection of politics, diplomacy and science”, held at Gennadiy Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, experts considered the issues of our national interests in Antarctica, trends in the development of the Poles as an international space, the interaction of science and diplomacy in the Antarctic policy of Ukraine and our economic activity in this region.
Experts have repeatedly emphasized that countries that actively work and invest in polar research, will have greater access to the mineral and biological resources of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in future. And this is not only the largest unused reserves of minerals, but also reserves of clean fresh water. In addition, interest in the polar region is growing due to new sea routes.
Therefore, Ukraine’s strategic course should be to maintain our presence in Antarctica. Currently, about 30 countries have research stations on the ice continent. The Ukrainian station “Akademik Vernadsky” is among them. We have a state targeted scientific and technical program, the National Antarctic Research Center is actively functioning, Ukraine is a party to the Antarctic Treaty since 1992 and an Advisory Party to this treaty since 2004. The latest news is the restoration of the scientific fleet. Thanks to the decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Budget Parliamentary Committee, icebreaker will be purchased.
According to Gennadiy Nadolenko, Director of the Gennadiy Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, the only thing missing is a conceptual program document on national Antarctic policy, which would define the ways, mechanisms and methods of Ukraine’s systemic presence in Antarctica.
Global Climate Factory
According to the Director of the National Antarctic Research Center (NARC), Yevhen Dykyi, our science has always felt the support of diplomacy, from the transfer of the “Akademik Vernadsky” station to the purchase of the vessel. But, according to him, now there is a need to increase Ukraine’s presence not only in Arctic or Antarctic international organizations, but in EU organizations focused on research of the polar regions. And the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be very much needed in this case.
Since the conclusion of the Antarctic Treaty, which demilitarized 10% of the area of our planet, scientific activity has become the principal activity carried out by all Antarctic states there.
What is Antarctica in terms of world science? According to Yevhen Dykyi, this is the largest “laboratory” on the planet, a place where processes that affect the weather around the world take place. Thus, Antarctica is one of the “factories” of the global climate. The weather on the planet is determined by a network of warm and cold currents, and the points at which cold water masses are formed in the world’s oceans are only three: one near Greenland and three near Antarctica.
“Players’” positions
As for the political context, the Director of the NARC said that the positions of the main “players” in Antarctica differ. Russia’s position is to defend geopolitical interests. China simply preempts the territory – now it has four operating stations and the desire to gain the right to build a fifth one. By a “strange coincidence”, China’s stations are in the most promising areas in terms of future mining.
As for the position of the EU countries, according to Yevhen Dykyi, they consider the polar region as a scientific laboratory, and diplomacy – as a factor in ensuring the ability of scientists to work there. And somewhere in the middle is the position of the Anglo-Saxon world (USA, Canada, Great Britain): the provision of serious deep science and at the same time political interests, with a view to the time when, perhaps, the Annexes to the Antarctic Treaty will change.
In particular, all the world’s players keep in mind the year 2048 when the protocol banning mining in Antarctica may not be extended.
As for Ukraine, our position is close to the position of the EU countries. Because we are a fairly powerful state in the Antarctic scientific field. Today, Ukraine is represented in all international scientific organizations whose activities relate to Antarctica. We are full members of SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research), the principal non-governmental organization responsible for the international coordination of scientific research in the Antarctic region. We are also represented in the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP), which decisively sets rules for security in Antarctica and ensures logistical cooperation between countries.
And what about the Arctic?
In the Arctic, we are almost unrepresented today. Although, as Yevhen Dykyi said, an antenna complex built by Kharkiv scientists operates in one of the Norwegian archipelagos. So, there is space for expansion.
The scientific community is increasingly aware that most modern climate studies are bipolar. The most valuable results are obtained by comparing data obtained in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Ukraine did not receive the status in the Arctic Council, because it did not apply for it. “In Antarctica we have a normal international legal framework, within which we can deploy and work even better than now, but in the Arctic such a base is lacking”, – says Yevhen Dykyi. – “Therefore, it is worth initiating Ukraine’s accession to a number of international agreements.”
For its part, the NARC is applying for membership in the Euro Polar Board. It is a EU structure that works bipolarly in the Arctic and Antarctic. According to the Director of the NARC, this organization is not political, but rather science-oriented.
As for the Arctic Council, it includes countries that have territorial affiliation to the Arctic. Admission, even as an observer, requires the consent of all these countries. In addition, an invitation from one of them is needed as the first step. The risk is that we will enter the field where we will be in permanent contact with our northern neighbor. It is clear that the aggressor country will block our initiatives. Therefore, expanding our presence in the Arctic is a difficult task for Ukrainian diplomats.
Ecological dimension
Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Mykhaylo Khoriev recalled the key principles of the Madrid Protocol, according to which Antarctica is a world reserve area, where the main activity is research.
The document clearly states that it is not possible to develop deposits, extract minerals there, and that any activity must be subject to a preliminary environmental impact assessment.
“We, and the European countries as well, insist that the territory of protected areas should be expanded, but here we face business interests, because expansion of the respective territories leads to certain restrictions in industrial extraction of bioresources”, – Mykhaylo Khoriev noted.
Among the proposals for Ukraine voiced by the Deputy Minister are to strengthen the scientific component in our own policy on Antarctica, as well as to clearly shape Ukraine’s strategy on the Antarctic continent and clearly distribute roles among the main Ukrainian stakeholders.
Floating Institute
After a break of 20 years, we may finally have our own scientific fleet. “James Clark Ross” icebreaker will soon navigate under the Ukrainian flag. The Cabinet of Ministers has allocated funds not only for the purchase of the vessel, but also for its relocation to Ukraine and payment of all taxes and fees. According to Yevhen Dykyi, the vessel is a comparable resource with the “Akademik Vernadsky” station.
“The autonomy of navigation up to 2 months allows for long routes, devices that can sample from depths of up to 6 km will allow to cover about 90% of the ocean floor, and 8 laboratories and 50 scientists on board – this is actually a “floating institute”, – they said in NARC.
Our own oceanographic icebreaker will allow Ukraine to return to the study of the World Ocean after a long break, solve the logistical problems of our Antarctic station and expand the possibilities of seasonal expeditions, found research and logistics consortia with other countries, and conduct research not only in Antarctica, but in the Arctic, and, if necessary, in other regions of the ocean.
During the round table the evolution of our Antarctic program was also discussed in view of the purchase of the icebreaker. “The President of Ukraine has promised that this year a new program will be adopted by 2030”, Yevhen Dykyi said. – “Until recently, we did not actively pedal this issue, because we did not know whether we would have a vessel or not. But now we will address to the Cabinet of Ministers with the respective initiative.”
Industrial fishing
In addition to political, scientific, environmental activities and Ukraine’s presence in Antarctica, there is another – economic – aspect. Vasyl Turok, Head of the International Cooperation Department of the State Agency for Land Reclamation and Fisheries of Ukraine, spoke about our interests in terms of bioresources extraction in the waters of the Southern Ocean.
By the end of the 1990s, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) had set strict catch limits. (Ukraine became a full member of the Commission in 1994). Today, there are three target species in the area: tooth-fish, krill and ice fish. The fishery is conducted by 5 vessels, four of which catch tooth-fish and one catches krill. The catch of Ukrainian vessels is about 20 thousand tons of bioresources per season. For comparison, our total catch in the Black and Azov Seas was 18,000 tons.
Scientific Embassy
“Ukraine must protect its national interests, and in the conditions when the system of equal access to resources is created, the substantiation of the standpoint and the position of the state is extremely important”, – Vasyl Turok noted. – “Therefore, scientific activity within the CCAMLR is of great importance. Ukraine signed memoranda of international scientific observation with Great Britain, Spain, South Korea, South Africa, etc. For the 2020-2021 season, Ukraine and Canada won a joint grant to study Antarctic water plankton. The contribution of Ukrainian scientists to the study of bioresources has been repeatedly noted at meetings of the Commission.
Note that in 2023 – 2024 Ukraine will chair the CCAMLR. Experts are convinced that despite the fact that fishing is only one of the components of our presence in Antarctica, the status and role of Ukraine in this process will be a strong argument in our favor in the future review of industrial opportunities below the 60th parallel.”
Today, most delegations use the Chilean platform to send Antarctic expeditions. The Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of Ukraine to the Republic of Chile Vitaliy Tsymbalyuk, addressing the participants of the round table, noted that thanks to the NARC it was possible to deepen cooperation with Chilean colleagues in the peaceful exploration of Antarctica. In particular, the Chilean party suggested that our scientists use the infrastructure of the Chilean Antarctic Institute to conduct their own research. Delegations can use the laboratories of the Chilean party to save own resources and time.
“Our station “Akademik Vernadsky” is a scientific embassy of Ukraine. And accordingly, it should demonstrate the best practices of effective international cooperation”, – added Vitaliy Tsymbalyuk. – “In addition, our station can be an important player in the field of cultural diplomacy. Before the pandemic, the ice continent was visited by up to 40,000 tourists a year, many of them visited our station. So, thanks to the creation of a small museum there, it became possible to tell the world more about Ukraine.”
The most important resource
Among the outcomes of the round table: our diplomats should more actively join Ukrainian delegations in the Antarctic organizations. After all, then it will be much easier to coordinate dialogue and the search of compromises in the framework of complex political “multi-pronged games”. But the most important leitmotif of the round table is that Ukraine’s scientific potential is precisely the resource on which our presence in the polar regions should be purposefully built.
Dmytro SHULIKIN