Chilean Antarctic Policy Council proposes establishing national rights over the extended continental shelf and moving forward on marine protected areas
The Council proposed to President Sebastián Piñera that adjustments be made to two objectives of the National Antarctic Policy, approved in 2017, in order to add the clear rights of Chile over the extended continental shelf in the Antarctic and the protection of marine resources via a Marine Protected Area.
Today, Foreign Affairs Minister Andrés Allamand led a new session of the Antarctic Policy Council to commemorate 80 years since President Pedro Aguirre Cerda signed the Supreme Decree that established the limits of the Chilean Antarctic Territory.
During this meeting, the Council proposed to President Sebastián Piñera that adjustments be made to two objectives of the National Antarctic Policy, approved in 2017, in order to add the clear rights of Chile over the extended continental shelf in Antarctica and the protection of marine resources via a Marine Protected Area.
“The first adjustment refers to the inclusion of the importance that Chile places on its rights over the extended continental shelf in the Antarctic. In the coming year, we will make the relevant presentation to the United Nations,” confirmed the Minister.
“A decision was also made to ask the President that every aspect related to the creation of marine protected areas in the Antarctic be included, especially the push for the marine protected area that we are proposing, in conjunction with Argentina, for Domain 1 in Antarctica,” he added.
The National Antarctic Policy and its Strategic Plan must also be updated in order to be fully consistent with the new Chilean Antarctic Law that will come into effect in March 2021.
The main objective of the law is to strengthen Chile’s sovereign rights in Antarctica within the framework of the Antarctic Treaty System, to ensure that Chile’s actions to protect the Antarctic environment become more systematic, and to strengthen national Antarctic institutions.
Present at the meeting, during which President Piñera welcomed both of the Council’s proposals, were National Defense Minister Mario Desbordes, Economy, Development and Tourism Minister Lucas Palacios, Public Works Minister Alfredo Moreno, Environment Minister Carolina Schmidt, Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation Minister Andrés Couve, as well as the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Defense, Vice Admiral Rodrigo Álvarez.
At the meeting, the Foreign Affairs Minister proposed a working plan for 2020-2022 which, in addition to updating the Antarctic Policy and Strategic Plan, would also include a review of the development plan for the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region as a gateway to the Antarctic; a roadmap for approving regulations under Antarctic Law; preparation of a 2022 National Antarctic Program; preparation of a document on the Strategic Vision for 2048; and strategic/scientific policy guidelines for the Antarctic.