Exploring Opportunities For Pakistan To Revive Its Antarctic Programme

Pakistan is on the list of those countries that took part in the scientific expeditions in Antarctica during the 20th Century. Antarctica is a huge uninhabited and ice-covered continent in the South Pole of the Globe. It's entire land is around 14,200,000 km2, making it the fifth-largest continent geographically, remaining isolated from human inhabitation. Even though Antarctica is an isolated continent, one cannot deny its significance in the realms of scientific diplomacy, geopolitics, and the transformation of global order. Its importance can be recognized from the recorded history of its expeditions, colonization and proclamations of territories by leading Imperialist Powers (including the Spanish and British Empires).

The proclamation of territory by the imperialist powers was transferred to the states, including the UK, New Zealand, Australia, France, Norway, Chile, and Argentina, which currently hold sovereignty over the Antarctic territories. In the contemporary era, even states from the Global South like Iran, called for the acquisition of land in the continent due to their urge to become an important player in future geopolitics and expand their scientific capacities.

The countries that have their claims provided spaces to other states too, for science-based capacity building and research. For example, New Zealand provided space for one of the most prominent stations owned by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), named McMurdo Station (established in February 1956) at Ross Dependency. The station effectively conducts scientific activities regarding environmental sciences, atmospheric studies, and glaciology for the “ice core research”, thus achieving the aims of scientific diplomacy on a global level. Other states, including Russia, India, China, etc., also pursue their scientific research by maintaining their stations in Antarctica.

Many states have their scientific establishments there. This highlights the importance of Antarctica in global affairs. As China and Russia aim to expand their missions, some of the leading Western states (including Australia and New Zealand) have called for amending the legal status of the Antarctic Treaty to militarize the region and conduct mineral exploitation.

The international legal regime for Antarctica namely the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, has set rules for the governing of affairs in the whole region. Its legal articles permit every state to conduct scientific research, explore opportunities for scientific diplomacy and allow international agencies to pursue inspection of research stations and equipment. The treaty also restricts the militarization and exploitation of resources inside Antarctica. Similarly, scientific research affairs are monitored through the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), which was established in 1958. Even though Pakistan is not a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty, it retains membership of the SCAR since 1989.

With the collaboration of SCAR and financial support from the Pakistan Science Foundation, three scientific stations, including two Jinnah Antarctic Stations (JAS) and an unmanned weather observatory, were established at the Schirmacher Oasis of the Queen Maud Land, a Norway-claimed Antarctic territory. These Antarctic Stations were established under the leadership of the Ministry of Science & Technology’s agency, the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO). The first Pakistani establishment in Antarctica was established on January 18, 1991, as an unmanned station known as the “Iqbal Observatory Station”. Afterwards, Jinnah-I was established on January 25, 1991, and the Jinnah-II station was opened on January 5, 1992.

Institutions like the Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy had their role in support and research of this mission. PAF’s support aircraft along with Navy’s PNS “Tariq” and PNS “Behr Paima” played an important role in the provision of logistics during these expeditions. Their inclusion in the mission eventually made it possible to continue the operations smoothly and that can be again taken in consideration if Pakistan revives this programme.

Successively, the SUPARCO launched Pakistan’s second the satellite known as Badr-B in 2001, which also remained connected with the Iqbal Observatory for weather and upper atmosphere’s situation.

Similarly, the Jinnah-I and Jinnah-II stations were engaged in oceanographic, environmental, geological and biodiversity research. Therefore, the interest of Pakistan towards Antarctica was purely for scientific capacity-building.

Pakistan showed interest in expanding the Antarctic expedition, as NIO formed the Polar Research Cell (PRC) in 2006. There were also suggestions for revamping the programme in 2010. However, due to the lack of funds and the shift towards other scientific research, the programme did not get an expansion. Therefore, Pakistan halted its operations as stations were no longer maintained.

Lack of funds also became a reason for Pakistan not to sign the Antarctic Treaty. Although Pakistan was cooperating with the US and Norway in the past for the expedition, currently there are no potential partners that can provide support to Pakistan for such a mission.

Coming to the point of opportunities, the revival of the Antarctic Expedition will help mitigate environmental issues like climate change and melting glaciers of the Himalayas in the North of Pakistan (that are also known as the “Third Pole” of the Globe) as there are similarities in the patterns of environmental security of both Antarctica and the Himalayas region. Pakistani scientists can also be able to expand their research for SUPARCO, as the Antarctic region is suitable for conducting upper atmospheric research.

The region can also be explored for capacity-building in biodiversity, enhancing mineral exploration abilities, and polar research. This will enhance Pakistan’s scientific diplomacy, which will lead to widespread R&D and international cooperation. State institutions in Pakistan, like NIO and SUPARCO, can take the lead role in the revival of this mission with the assistance of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

China maintains five Antarctic stations & recently conducted the 40th expedition there, a source for Pakistan to enhance international cooperation in Antarctic activities. It’s necessary to consider a partnership with China in reviving this programme as there will be widespread opportunities for Pakistan to enhance its scientific capacity-building in environmental, oceanographic, geological, and space research. The Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC)’s vast missions should be approached by the NIO and other Pakistani scientific agencies.

The concern of low funds can be mitigated if Pakistan pursues collaborating with the Chinese mission. China has already established partnerships with Germany, Italy, and Russia, which can be taken into consideration by Pakistan to determine possible partnerships. China will also consider international partners like Pakistan for cooperation in scientific diplomacy that will be beneficial in dealing with the climate crisis.