Antarctic treaty under stress as member countries gather in Italy

For 65 years, an international treaty forged at the height of the Cold War has governed Antarctica. But with rising geopolitical tensions, consensus is increasingly hard to find.

"Up until just a few years ago, we talked about the Antarctic Treaty as a framework for peace and stability in the Antarctic region, and the Arctic as a place of relative stability," said David Hik, chief scientist at Polar Knowledge Canada, an agency focused on strengthening polar science and technology in Canada.

"Now, both of those assumptions are being challenged." 

Fifty-eight countries, including Canada, are signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, which preserves the continent for scientific exploration and peace, and bans military and mining activity. 

But only half the signatories can vote on treaty business. Canada wants to secure voting rights as a so-called consultative party, and will make its case again at the Antarctic Treaty meeting in Milan, Italy, later this month.

But there have been barriers to this. 

"Canada's claim to be a consultative party has been blocked, first and foremost, by Russia," said Klaus Dodds, a political biographer and Antarctic expert at Royal Holloway, University of London. "And the reason is, Russia wants its ally Belarus to be made a consultative party alongside Canada."

In March, a first-ever all-Canadian expedition sailed to Antarctica on HMCS Margaret Brooke, with 15 polar scientists hosted by the Canadian Navy. The Canadian Antarctic Research Expedition (CARE) 2025 mission conducted weeks of research and visited multiple countries' research stations on the continent, in part to raise Canada's profile at the southern pole. CBC News got exclusive access to the expedition. 

To capture the voyage CBC's international climate correspondent Susan Ormiston, producer Jill English and videographer Sam Martin spent a month aboard the Margaret Brooke broadcasting live via satellite, sending news of the voyage back to Canada.

The polar regions are changing faster than other parts of the world, due to climate change.

Antarctica's ancient glaciers are receding and sea ice reached near-record lows this year, both of which contribute to rising global sea levels.

"The Antarctic ice sheet contains enormous amounts of fresh water, and as the ice sheet thins and melts in places, calves at faster rates, that's going to affect global sea level change," said Thomas James, chief scientist on the CARE 2025 mission.

"What happens in Antarctica doesn't stay in Antarctica," he added.

The southern ocean is a huge carbon sink and helps regulate the global climate. But warming ocean waters may disrupt those patterns, said Brent Else, co-scientific director at MEOPAR, which supports ocean research and training at Canadian universities.