Committee for Environmental Protection

25 Years of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty Committee for Environmental Protection

The Committee for Environmental Protection endorsed this publication on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is the international agreement that establishes the framework for comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment. It is commonly referred to as the Madrid Protocol. The Madrid Protocol was negotiated by the parties to the Antarctic Treaty between 1989 and 1991, following the failure to agree on an international regulatory instrument governing mining in Antarctica (the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities, or CRAMRA). The adoption of the Madrid Protocol includes an indefinite prohibition on any activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research. The Protocol built on a range of environmental provisions agreed at several Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCM) since the signing of the Treaty including the 1964 Agreed Measures on the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora. It also picked up environmental management elements that had been developed during the CRAMRA negotiations (such as emergency response provisions), as well as previous work of the Scientific Committee of Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), on waste management and marine pollution, respectively. The Protocol was opened for signature on 4 October 1991. It entered into force on 14 January 1998. The original 26 nations to sign the Madrid Protocol have now been joined by a further 11 nations.