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| India's Bharati Station in Antarctic ( Source- DefenceNews.In / Author) |
Source- The Defence News India
Bharati, our newest Antarctic Research station looks almost space-agey. Designed by German architectural firm, BOF Architekten, this space station is pretty amazing but it is not the first.
This is the third Indian research station in the Antarctic, the first one, Dakshin Gangotri, was set up between 1983-84 after India became a part of the Antarctic Treaty System. Since the Antarctic is not a part of any country, 52 countries have come to an agreement to be able to occupy the Antarctic land, but only for research.
Unfortunately, Dakshin Gangotri was abandoned in 1989 when it got submerged.
After that India established Maitri, in 1990, which is still functional. The National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), which runs these stations, then gave the go ahead to BOF Architekten for the construction of Bharati in 2009. This was ready by 2013.
Why does India need these research Stations?
There are various areas of research that can require this facility like to understand the cryosphere (frozen part of the earth), glaciology (study of ice), biogeochemical processes and polar precipitation.
Antarctica is also the one place that allows researchers to work in an unpolluted and stable environment while studying the effects of pollution and climate change.
According to the NCAOR;
Antarctica and Southern Ocean are unique places to conduct study on ozone hole, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, palaeoclimatic research from ice core and marine sediments (sun earth relationship, global climate change and genome research from cold regions).
So this new research station is near the Antarctic coast where it has to face extreme winds at the speed 200 mph an temperatures blow and around -40°C.
So does that mean that our researchers and scientist have to be uncomfortable?
The station has a floor area of approximately 2.500 sqm and was completed in February 2013.
Let's not forget that no matter how amazing this looks, working in the Antarctic is no easy task and we owe a lot to our researchers, who work in these stations so that we can understand out planet better.
The enigma that is Antarctica!
Antarctica has this mythic weight. It resides in the collective unconscious of so many people and it makes this huge impact like outer space. It’s like going to the moon - John Krakauer
The world over the years has been relatively silent on the kind of human activity that is taking place in the last surviving wilderness on earth. Unconfirmed reports of oil deposits underneath its landmass and ocean floor have been ignored over a period of time due to the lack of technical expertise; the geographical remoteness and apparent lack of political activity in the region have also contributed.
Despite these factors, the glaciers of Antarctica are in a volatile situation due to rising global temperature, and this has placed Antarctica at the forefront. Given the fact that any human activity
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| Image credits- Stamps of India |
would accelerate the rate of de-glacierisation, there is a debate between those who want economic growth fuelled by fossil fuels and those who want the survival of small island nations. This debate has been brewing at meetings of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative members.
Similar to many other international bodies, the Antarctic Council has been taken over by few nations who used to hold sway in global affairs in the colonial past.
Territorial Claims :
As of now, as many as seven countries have laid claims over the climate engine of the planet. There is an existing debate over the legal status of Antarctica--whether it should be viewed as Terra Nullius (no man’s property) or as Res Communis (everyone’s property). This undoubtedly brings back memories of the race by colonial powers for the African pie--they only ended up exploiting resources and pushing the people into abject poverty.
In Antarctica’s case, the situation is graver, since the melting of ice will have far reaching impacts on the world at large.
Once the melting begins, there will be two leading events. First, there will be a rise in the sea level, and second, a rat race will begin for the black gold hidden beneath the vast glaciers of the continent. As a layperson, I wouldn’t feel threatened by this possibility, as we still have oil supplies from other safer parts of the globe which would last for at least another 50 years.
However, much before that, in the year 2048, the world will encounter a diplomatic and legal dilemma. It will be divided on how to deal with an end to prohibition on oil mining in the continent--leaving economically powerful nations to freely extract unlimited supplies of oil.
This would no doubt change the entire geopolitics of the region. Nations will form groups, depending upon what strategy they would like to adopt. In the ascending order of influence there would be a group of small island nations whose existence would be threatened, there would be a group of oil producing nations who have either exhausted their oil resources or are going through an economic depression due to the lack of demand for oil, there will be another group of nations rallying behind big western powers, notably the USA and the EU, who would want to make Antarctica their next strategic landmark (to counter the influence of China and Russia). Finally, there will also be another group of highly ambitious and desperate group of nations who would need oil for their developmental needs as their population graphs will hit the peak by then.
As per the present Antarctic Treaty System, we have frozen the territorial claims and prohibited commercial exploitation of mineral and oil resources. Nevertheless, we cannot rely on ourselves in the feeble enforcement mechanisms of ATS institutions and consensus based sanctions, especially at a time when stronger nations are strong-arming smaller ones to accept their propaganda in world forums.
Hence addressing the present issue of illegal mining, it is important that we put in place effective mechanisms to deal with the same. This legal framework should be prepared with technical know-how and the manpower to deal with an apocalyptic situation, where we run out of mainland energy resources.
It is important to explore the kind of institutions that we have, to know if it has the capacity to withstand the pressure for commercial exploitation before the stipulated time frame and safeguard the integrity of Antarctican ecology from undue violations. At present, the Security Council is the only body capable of doing that function. This will lead us to the next question: What if the lead violator is one among the Security Council members? How helpless would the international community be in such a situation?
Militarisation of Antarctica ::
Although this seems distant, there is an ongoing process of establishing research centres in Antarctica. At the risk of sounding premature, these processes would lead to countries wanting to protect their assets in their respective bases. It won’t be long before we hear of research centres turning into administrative outposts. The threat of colonialism 2.0 looms large.
This situation has two readings. First, it is a challenge and second it is an opportunity. The challenge is to withstand the tide of industrialisation and lavish lifestyle choices. The opportunity would be to kick-start an intensive campaign to develop alternate means to harness effective substitutes for fossil fuel resources, and to effectively conserve existing resources.
Few Steps to Maintain the Order ::
By underpinning the principles of resource sharing, advanced technical collaboration and diffusion of scientific advancement in relation to environment conservation, we must resolve to consolidate a Task Force which shall comprise one nominee member from all member nations. This Antarctic System Protection Task Force can effectively study and scrutinize all purposes of entry into Antarctic waters and grant licenses for entry.
Steps must be taken to expand membership of Antarctic Treaty Consultative Party Meetings to ensure fair representation. The amended system will have parties adopting a weighted voting system which will determine the weights of a vote based on varying parameters like research capacity, economy, effect of climate change on the country, quantum of investment made in research and development in Antarctica, Human Development Index and the nature of issue discussed, among various others.
Thus, recognising the unprecedented situation of a sudden depletion of oil resources in the world, and the unknown consequences emanating there from, it would be in the larger interest of the world that we revisit the Antarctic Treaty System for the purpose of making it inclusive and enforceable. Furthering the need of sustainable development, we need to be clear about the goals that we seek and make sure that we leave the earth in a better condition than we inherited from our forefathers.
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India's Bharati base at Antarctica
( Credits- Architec Tube)
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