Antarctica and all of its emperor penguins, leopard seals, blue whales, and towering mountains have been set aside for protection under international agreements. This coldest and most pristine of the world’s ecosystems has been protected since 1998. Oil drilling is banned for at least 50 years. Conservation is the foremost concern regarding policy in Antarctica.Dogs and pesticides are prohibited by these policies, including other threats to the wildlife.

The agreement in question is titled the Environmental Protection Protocol to the Antarctica Treaty.The nations around the world agreed to leave Antarctica free from commercial and industrial development.Approval was gained in 1991 by the twenty-six leading countries having scientific interests in the area, including the United States, Russia, China, India, Japan, Argentina, Brazil and most of the main European countries.To find antarctica travel adventures information see this resource.

The regulations set forth by this treaty ended over 15 years of lobbying by environmental groups and put as stop to diplomatic talks.The rules banned oil drilling and mining. It requires that the nations who run Antarctica’s 35 scientific research outposts clean out their garbage dumps.Scientific stations and tourist ships are also not allowed to dump an raw sewage in to the Arctic waters.

Sled dogs were how explorers like Norwegian’s Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole in 1911.However, the treaty makes dogs illegal since a few of the scientists’ pets have recently caused the death of penguins and other birds common to the area.In addition, pesticides, polystyrene components, and contaminated dirt cannot be transported to Antarctica.

Since Antarctica’s land is buried under a mile of ice, most kinds of plants are not able to grow there, with the exception of moss and grass, and only close to the ocean.The ice on the continent accounts for 70% of the Earth’s fresh water.It is encircled by a rich web of whales, sea birds, fish and seals.If you want more comprehensive info on adventure antarctica tours that site will help you.

On this earth, Antarctica is considered to be one of the most fragile places.Growth takes place very slowly because of the consistency of the sub zero temperatures.It can take years for the area to recover from any disturbances.Footprints, for example, can take as much as 10 years to disappear.

1959 marked the signing of the initial Antarctic Treaty, and it prohibited military operations and the testing of nuclear devices in the region.It also kept any one nation from owning all of Antarctica and gave rules for research.In spite of the treaty that protects the non-ownership of Antarctica, one country claims to own nearly the entire continent.

When scientists reported the discovery of oil, coal, gold, zinc, iron, uranium, manganese, and copper, among other minerals, environmental organizations started fighting to establish laws to protect Antarctica early in the 1980’s. Discussions about drilling for oil in Antarctica began in the 1970’s during that decade’s energy crisis.The interest in mining and drilling will probably increase as technology advances and oil prices increase.

Rules will be enforced individually since all 26 nations have their own laws.But if someone belonging to a particular nation goes against the treaty, and the government does nothing, the other 25 countries will exert pressure to remedy the issue.The agreement on this continent is believed to be an environmental success story.