MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

NZ spearheads clean-Antarctica rules

Anyone who damages Antarctica's pristine environment must now pay to clean it up under a new pact, New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said yesterday.

"If you create an environmental emergency in the Antarctic you have to take action to deal with it... if you don't do so, someone else can do it for you and present you with a bill," said Don Mackay, former New Zealand ambassador to the United Nations, who led the group working on the agreement.

The pact was adopted after 12 years of negotiations by the 45 member countries of the Antarctic Treaty in Stockholm on Tuesday, Goff said.

Known as the Liability Annex, it imposes real liabilities on nations and commercial operators for the first time since the Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 and created the continent as the only large area on the planet where no state has sovereign control.

The Treaty organization itself acts as a de facto government.

??It's a vital step forward in protecting the pristine environment of the Antarctic,'' Goff said.

There has been concern among Antarctic Treaty states that growing commercial tourism in the region will eventually cause an environmental disaster ? with perhaps a tour ship sinking near the coast.

The pact requires operators to ??take prompt action when environmental emergencies arise from their activities.''

If an operator fails to take such action, it allows others to do so and to recover their costs from the defaulter.

It also requires all operators in the region to carry enough insurance to meet their obligation to clean up the damage caused, and put in place prevention measures against a further accident.

??By its very nature (the annex) acts as a deterrent'' and a safeguard, said Foreign Ministry legal specialist Jennifer McDonald.

Around 30,000 tourists visit the Antarctic each year, far outnumbering the scientists working there.