Cormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that will “change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica”. The vast frozen continent – home to emperor and Adélie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses – should be recognised as an autonomous legal entity “at least equivalent to a country”, says the environmental lawyer.
And this week that dream became one step closer to reality as judges awarded Cullinan the Shackleton medal for the protection of the polar regions.
The prestigious prize, worth £10,000, shines a light on people who have shown “courage, determination, ingenuity and leadership” in their work to protect the polar regions, indicating Cullinan’s radical plan to adopt and implement an Antarctica Declaration is gaining momentum.
Cullinan, who is based in South Africa and was once an anti-apartheid activist, achieved recognition for his work fighting, often successfully, for legal systems to recognise the rights of rivers, forests and things “other than human beings” so they could be defended in court cases. The idea of giving species and places legal “personhood”, outlined in his 2002 book, Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, became part of a wider global movement recognising rights of nature and animals.
Cullinan is now arguing that Antarctica as a whole should have this legal personhood, preferably at state level. “We have to shift how people relate to Antarctica,” he says. “It’s absolutely essential to protect it, not just for itself, which is obviously valid, but also for humanity.”
Instead of being treated by the international community and law courts as a “territory claimed by a number of countries that stuck flags in the ice a while ago … at best, a laboratory and at worst, a potential source of oil, gas, minerals and krill”, he wants Antarctica to be legally protected as “an astounding living community” and “a being in its own right”.
“It should be obvious that Antarctica is far too wild and fierce for humans to rule,” he says. “It should be seen as what it is: sovereign unto itself.”
Antarctica is governed by the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), a framework created in 1959 and signed by 58 countries. This guarantees that the continent is used exclusively for peaceful purposes, such as science and conservation. It was a great achievement at the time, Cullinan says, when there were proposals to mine Antarctica and countries in conflict over their competing claims.
Now the key challenges Antarctica faces arise from the climate crisis, something caused by activities far outside its geographical boundaries.
At the same time, countries such as China and Russia have consistently blocked conservation measures such as the creation of new marine protected areas. “There’s impasse within the system, Cullinan says, while from an ecological perspective, the situation is deteriorating very fast and scientists are saying we have to take urgent, decisive action.”
The purpose of declaring Antarctica a legal entity and setting out its rights is to create corresponding obligations for other countries – and international organisations such as the UN – to respect those rights. “An iceberg doesn’t really care whether you think it has rights or not. The issue is: are there human duties to respect the integrity of the ice-sheet fields?”
If the Antarctic ice sheet melted entirely, it would raise global sea levels by about 58 metres. In 2020, an article in the journal Nature estimated that even a 1-metre rise would put “48% of the world’s land area, 52% of the global population and 46% of global assets” at risk of flooding.
“It can’t be left to a small group of countries to make decisions about Antarctica,” says Cullinan, who helped to draft the 2010 Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth and co-founded the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.
“If human beings lived there, who were indigenous to Antarctica, they would have a government who could represent them in climate change negotiations or biodiversity conventions. And that government would be a powerful voice, because Antarctica and the Southern Ocean covers a 10th of the surface of the planet.”
But Antarctica has no voice, he says. “It’s not represented in these decision-making bodies – and the countries that govern it under the ATS still argue from a national perspective, and take decision-making positions for their own national interests, while scientists and other people who really love Antarctica and are deeply committed to protecting it get blocked.”
The Antarctica Declaration would, by contrast, recognise that all Antarctic beings have rights that humanity must respect and protect. People around the world are being invited to support it and declare a new legal status of “personhood” for Antarctica. “It could then be represented,” says Cullinan.
“It could have a seat at the table, it could initiate lawsuits or join lawsuits around the world to prevent further greenhouse emissions.”
The award will help raise much-needed awareness about the Antarctica Declaration, he adds. “It will bring this initiative to the attention of people in a way that would have otherwise taken us years to achieve, and connect us to a network of polar explorers and Antarctic experts we can perhaps persuade to join us.
“We’ve got a very strong core group, but we need to build a global movement around this – we need to show that Antarctica is everybody’s concern.”
