Founded on science, world cooperation in Antarctica a model for meeting climate, other challenges

Office of the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, Malaysia and Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT)

16 Jun 11

The success of world co-operation based on science and practiced since the Cold War by nations operating in Antarctica offers a model to humanity as it confronts challenges to common interests like climate change, biodiversity loss and overfishing, says the editor of a new book on science diplomacy.

Since the end of the Second World War science has become an important tool of diplomacy, not only for issues involving environmental management, but for peace in the world we live in, says Paul Berkman, former Head of the Arctic Ocean Geopolitics Programme, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, UK, and Research Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Says Dr. Berkman, keynote speaker at an international conference on Antarctica being held in Malaysia: “For half a century, it has become increasingly obvious that we face planetary-scale phenomena that cannot be solved by any one nation or region, nor solved quickly. Today and forever after, national and international interests need to find the type of balance practiced today under the Antarctic Treaty.”

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