Antarctic building boom in 'polar year'

A research station set to be built by the Baltic state of Estonia in New Zealand's Ross Dependency is part of a construction boom expected on the frozen continent of Antarctica next summer.

The development rush has been linked to the declaration of next year as international polar year, but there are concerns it will create environmental problems, Melbourne's The Age newspaper reported yesterday.

Under the Antarctic Treaty, New Zealand and six other nations have territorial claims to the continent, but all such claims have little practical impact.

Few of the 45 treaty signatory nations recognise them and countries can build base stations or research sites regardless of whether they have specific permission from the territorial claimant.

New Zealand still asserts its claim to the Ross Dependency, but accepts international control of the environment under the treaty.

A spokeswoman for Antarctica New Zealand said yesterday that Estonia was running behind schedule for construction of its Antarctic base, a delay attributed by other sources to a shortage of funds in the Baltic state.

Estonia, which joined the Antarctic Treaty five years ago, wants to build a small, summer-only base for six people, comprising two huts, a small shed and fuel storage at Edmonson Point South, 350km northwest of Scott Base.

Other bases already in New Zealand's dependency are those of the Italians at Terra Nova Bay and the big US base at McMurdo.

The Czech Republic will open its climate research station on James Ross Island next December and Belgium is developing its own new research base.

The base, between the Russian station Novolazarevskaya and the Japanese station, Syowa, in the Dronning Maud Land region, will accommodate 20 people over the summer of 2007-2008.

France and Italy are developing a new permanent inland research station, known as Concordia, to be fully operational next year.

The newspaper also reported that China had ambitious plans to build inland, in addition to its coastal Zhongshan station near Australia's Davis base.

India's National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research appears to have rejected Australia's offer to share the Mawson station.

Instead it will put plans before the next Antarctic Treaty meeting in June for building its own facility next year in the Larsemann Hills area or nearby McLeod Island in Prydz Bay.

And South Korea's Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries is preparing to build a $119 million station at an undisclosed site in the Antarctic interior, according to the Korea Times.

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, an environmental body with more than 150 member groups, said the pace of construction was threatening wilderness values.

- NZPA