Back in September, we heard stories of a "Cold Rush" with Russia planting a flag on the Arctic seabed...
This week, it was announced that the UK Foreign Office is preparing a claim to extend British Antarctic territory by a million square kilometres and increase Britain's oil, gas and mineral rights... Mining in the Antarctic is currently banned by the Madrid Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty, but this is up for review in 2041. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said that there were no plans at the moment to exploit mineral deposits in the Antarctic, but that the claim would be a "safeguard for the future".
The map below shows the current British Antarctic claim...
Unsurprisingly, the plans have been condemned by environmental groups... Go here to see what Greenpeace have to say about it all.
What do you think? Should Britain - or anyone else - be claiming Antarctic territory? Should mineral exploitation be allowed? Who should make the decisions about these issues?
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