Estonians eye NZ's Antarctic patch

By SIMON COLLINS, science reporter

The tiny Baltic state of Estonia wants to build a research base near a protected area in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica.

The Estonian Government, which joined the Antarctic Treaty in 2001, proposes a small, summer-only base for six people comprising two 5m x 5m huts, a small shed and fuel storage.

Its suggested site at Edmonson Point South, close to an Italian outpost 350km northwest of Scott Base, is in the Ross Sea Dependency claimed by New Zealand and is within 1km of an area which Italy has proposed for special protection.

Professor Allan Green of Waikato University, an expert on Antarctic moss, has just heard about the plan at a conference in Italy and said the Italians were "a little surprised and embarrassed as to what to do" about the Estonian proposal.

"I personally am against this proliferation of bases, especially when a suitable base is nearby," Professor Green said.

"I will be writing to Antarctica New Zealand to ask them to block it in the environmental stages. The area, apparently, is relatively undisturbed."

An Italian report published last month said Edmonson Point, a rare ice-free oasis on the frozen continent, was an important habitat for skuas, about 2000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins and about 50 female Weddell seals which give birth there each year.

Dr Alan Hemmings of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition said the Estonian interest seemed to be more political than scientific.

"I and others who spoke to them discovered that they decided that participating in the Antarctic was one of the ways in which Estonia could come out from under the shadow of its time in the Soviet Union and actively participate in the global community," he said.

With just 1.6 million people in an area less than half the size of the North Island, Estonia was one of the smallest states in the former Soviet Union.

It is now one of 10 Eastern European and Mediterranean countries that are due to join the European Union next May. One of the others, the Czech Republic, also proposes a polar base on the other side of the continent below South America.

Dr Hemmings said that in principle, scientists welcomed new countries joining the Antarctic Treaty system.

"On the other hand, there is a concern to make sure we don't build stations that are right next to each other.

"On the face of it, given the amount of money they have and what they want to put in, obviously it might be much better if it was co-located with an existing station.

"The difficulty is that the Estonians are doing this as an expression of national independence, so that immediately runs into a problem if they are piggybacking on someone else."

The head of the Antarctic policy unit in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Wellington, Trevor Hughes, said New Zealand had told the Estonians that they needed to prepare a comprehensive environmental evaluation of their proposal.

The evaluation would be considered at the next meeting of the Antarctic Treaty's environmental protection committee in South Africa next May or June.

He said New Zealand still asserted its claim to the Ross Dependency, but accepted international control of the environment under the treaty.

"Legally as far as we are concerned it's our turf, but only a few others recognise that," he said.

"We still continue to exercise the functions of government of the Ross Dependency and senior officers at Scott Base are appointed as coroner and justice of the peace for that purpose.

"But we have other science programmes operating there. We have the Italians at Terra Nova Bay, a substantial US base at McMurdo, the Germans have been there and we have this Estonian interest.

"On top of that, we have bilaterally helped other countries carry out scientific work through our system - the Netherlands, who don't have a base anywhere, and we have been helping Malaysian scientists over recent years. It's all an international co-operation."

Who's Who In Antarctica

Existing polar bases (summer population 1998-99): USA (1378), Chile (352), Argentina (302), Russia (254), Australia (201), Britain (192), Japan (136), Italy (106), France (100), South Africa (80), Brazil (80), China (70), Poland (70), New Zealand (60), India (60), Germany (51), Spain (43), Norway (40), Peru (28), Sweden (20), Bulgaria (16), South Korea (14), Finland (11).

Proposed bases: Estonia, Czech Republic.