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A Polar Law approach to climate change?

Who is legally responsible for protecting our ice caps? Could a Polar approach to climate change strengthen political and legal responses to climate change and other human activities in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions?

“We’re exploring whether we can readily and clearly identify a set of rules and principles that apply across the Polar regions, acknowledging, however, that the Arctic and Antarctic regions are different in many ways,” Professor Scott says.

“There are Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic, in contrast to the Antarctic – and of course the geo-political situation is quite different. The Arctic is largely under the sovereignty of a number of states whereas the Antarctic is managed as an international space under the Antarctic Treaty System.”

“In editing the Polar Law Research Handbook we were able to identify five broad principles that could underpin an emerging Polar Law. These include a strong cooperative and internationalised approach to regional governance, peaceful purposes, freedom and cooperation in scientific research, strong environmental protection and an emerging precautionary approach to climate change. And there is plenty of opportunity for the two regions to learn from each other and exchange best practise in order to improve how activities are managed at the Poles,” she says.

One possible benefit of identifying Polar Law (beyond law which applies to the Poles) is that it enhances the authority of the law, both within the regions themselves but also within other organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and the climate change regime.

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