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Saturday, Aug 12, 2006

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National

Questions of human pressure

Randeep Ramesh

Concern as India builds new Antarctica base

New Delhi: The Larsemann Hills are a rare stretch of ice-free rock around the Prydz Bay on the eastern shores of Antarctica, a continent better known for inhospitable terrain, head-high snow drifts and freezing temperatures. According to scientists, the bay area, sprinkled with dozens of freshwater lakes and islands, is "one of the few geological windows into the history of the Antarctic continent and the polar ice sheet."

"Cold rush"

But now plans by India to build a year-round scientific research base in the middle of the coastal oasis have dismayed environmentalists and stalled international talks to turn the area into a conservation zone. The base would be India's third in the Antarctic and the 60th on the icecap in what has been described as the continent's "cold rush."

America has already constructed a 1,000-mile motorway between its coastal base and the South Pole. Australia is planning flights to and from the ice. All this is an indication, analysts say, of a burst of activity that is quietly corroding Antarctica's isolation. The coldest places on earth are no longer the preserve of heroic explorers but are visited by thousands of tourists a year and are home to hundreds of scientists.

India argues that the Larsemann Hills site offers distinct scientific advantages: the base will be close to the sea, allowing for unique studies of marine and ice biology, and research there could help to solve one of geography's biggest puzzles: how did India break away from Antarctica?

Scientists believe the land masses of Australasia, Africa, South America and India were once part of a super-continent which has been named Gondwana. Specifically Indian scientists say that the east coast of India and the eastern shores of Antarctica were "contiguous." By examining rocks in river basins on the subcontinent and minerals in the glaciers around the Larsemann Hills, India's National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) hopes to test the theory.

Plea from others

The three nations with bases already in the area — Russia, China and Australia — pleaded with India at the last Antarctic treaty meeting in Edinburgh in June not to go ahead with the base, saying the area had already suffered "human impacts." In a paper presented to the meeting, they said there was evidence of wind-blown litter, physical degradation of the ice-free surface and chemical contamination by oil spills of the lakes, most of which thaw for up to two months in the summer.

Campaigners say that India has been quietly surveying the site for years. James Barnes of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a pressure group, said the process to protect the Larsemann Hills began six years ago and India had decided not to join. "They then built a hut. It is not a last minute decision," he said. While he had the highest regard for Indian science, he doubted that the thesis that India was once connected to the glaciers around Prydz Bay could be proved. "It was aeons ago and you are talking of a very narrow 10 km strip of land. There's been a lot of movement since then."

The dispute over the Larsemann Hills is the first to shatter the calm of the Antarctic treaty system in years. Australia offered to break the impasse by lending its station, Davis, for Indian research.

"There's a trade-off and one has to balance the urgency and importance of the research with the impact on the environment of doing it," said Tony Press, director of Australia's Antarctic Division. "That is why we said to the Indians, why not just share our facilities?"

However, India declined and is pressing ahead with its plans.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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