Russia dragging heels on creation of Antarctic conservation zone

A major diplomatic effort is under way to persuade Russia to agree to a conservation zone in the Ross Sea, a stretch of water in Antarctica that is home to large populations of whales and penguins as well as dozens of species of fish.

The Ross Sea is one of the world’s most important ecosystems, a largely untouched marine area which scientists say is the ideal place to study life in the Antarctic and the effects of climate change, The Guardian reports.

For many years, conservationists have pushed for the creation of a no-fishing zone in the area, but Russia and China have repeatedly blocked the proposals, which need to be agreed unanimously by the 25 member states of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). China is now on board.

Russian fishing vessels fish in the area for Patagonian toothfish, also known as Chilean sea bass. Russian scientists claim there is not enough evidence to prove a conservation zone is required, while global campaigners say action is crucial.

“In 10, 20 or 30 years, it will be too late,” said Lewis Pugh, who has undertaken swims in all the world’s oceans. Last year, he completed five swims in the Ross Sea in Speedos, despite a water temperature of -1C and air temperature of -37C. Pugh was in Moscow this week to help with the lobbying effort.

“There’s a lot going on in the world: Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, we would be foolish to think this is the only thing on the agenda, but really the single biggest issue for us all is the health of our planet,” he told the Guardian.

More than 1.3 million people have signed a petition on the website Avaaz calling on Russia to sign up to the proposals.

“President Putin holds the fate of one of the last ocean wildernesses in his hands,” said Nataliya Rovenskaya, global campaigner at Avaaz. “Over 1 million people from all over the world are calling on Russia to make history by protecting the Ross Sea and the countless whales, penguins and all the other magnificent species which live there.”

The decision will be taken in October at the annual summit of the CCAMLR in Tasmania, and there is a diplomatic effort to change Russia’s mind before then.

An appeal by the former archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu, released on Friday, forms part of the lobbying, with Tutu pointing to a 1959 agreement between the Soviet Union and the US, as well as other countries, to protect the Antarctic as a sign of what cooperation can achieve.

“When we protect an environment, we further peace. For me Antarctica is a symbol of peace. At the height of the cold war, the US and Soviet Union and several other countries put aside their difference and had the foresight to put aside the continent as a place dedicated to peace and science. That was a great moment,” he said.

This year Russia is the chair of the CCAMLR, and campaigners hope it is the perfect moment for it to relax its opposition to the conservation goal.

Dozens of diplomats, as well as campaigners such as Pugh and José María Figueres, former Costa Rica president and co-chair of the Global Oceans Commission, attended a lavish dinner at a palace in Moscow on Thursday night as part of the lobbying effort. However, only one Russian official attended the event, the former ice hockey player Viacheslav Fetisov, who is now a senator in Russia’s upper house of parliament.

He was cagey on whether Russia might change its mind, denying that there was a disagreement: “I don’t know what you’re talking about; I think Russia like every other nation understands there are a great many reasons to save the planet,” he said.

A western diplomat said it would be “very challenging” to get Russia to change its mind, and that Moscow’s concerns were as much about sovereignty over an area of the globe it sees as strategically important.

Antarctica was discovered by a Russian mission dispatched by Tsar Alexander I, which reached the continent in 1820, and ever since Russia has paid close attention to the area. Recently, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church visited the continent, where he communed with penguins and held a service at an Orthodox church built near a Russian research station.

Pugh said he was “hopefully optimistic” that the mood in Moscow might be changing. “It all comes down to Russia at this point. There is a lot of back-channelling and private discussions, and I hope that things here are slowly changing.”