Antarctic Treaty Consultative (ATC) Meeting in Delhi

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Panaji, Dec 3: In a significant development, India is hosting the crucial Antarctic Treaty Consultative (ATC) Meeting for the first time in New Delhi even as the apex body is to clear the site for the proposed third Indian Research Base Station at Larsemann's Bay, 600 nautical miles east of the existing Maitri station in the icy continent.

''We are hosting the 15-day ATC meeting for the first time in New Delhi during March-April next in which about 300 delegates connected with the Antarctic research would participate,'' Dr P S Goel, secretary, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences told UNI.

Meanwhile, Indian polar scientists are busy preparing a ''Comprehensive Environment Evaluation Report (CEER)'' for submission to the ''Committee on Environment Protection(CEP)'' which is to clear the report before its ratification by the ATC for setting up the third research station at Larsemann's Bay.

The report had to be circulated to all the member countries of the ATC for their comments/guidelines, if any, for modification/changes in the site plan as the site involved many aspects of preservation of ecology and environment at the Larsemann's Bay.

''Though some countries like Australia and New Zealand which dominate the area are initially opposing the idea because of 'territorial claims', there would not be any problem for India to get the site clearance for the new research base station,'' says Dr Rasik Ravindra, director, National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Vasco-da-Gama, Goa.

''If everything goes well and clearance obtained, it would take at least two years for setting up the research base station at Larsemann's Bay. We have already floated quotations for the design of the state-of-the-art station,'' he added.

The prestigious NCAOR is the nodal agency for undertaking and coordinating the multi-disciplinary Indian Antarctic expeditions, besides setting up of the third research station.

''They do not oppose the proposal but seek details regarding waste disposal at the proposed site probably to drag on the issue. But we are ready with all our explanations to maintain the ecology at the proposed site at the Larsemann's Bay,'' says NCAOR's logistics director Dr T V P Bhaskara Rao.

India had undertaken its first Antarctic Expedition in 1981 under the stewardship of the noted polar scientist Dr S Z Quasim and later set up its first research station base ''Dakshin Gangotri'' in 1983. The second base research station ''Maitri'' was later set up in 1988-89 following the caving in of the first one as it was located on an ice sheet.

The third one was necessitated for intensifying the polar research in the icy continent even as India had decided to set its foot on the Southern Ocean with research proposed in the Arctic continent next year.

India had also proposed to acquire a state-of-the-art ice-class vessel at a cost of about Rs 400 crore next year for its research activities instead of depending on vessels chartered from other countries.

India, according to Dr Rasik Ravindra, had during the last 25 expeditions contributed 500 research papers to various prestigious international journals besides sending 1,000 scientists from various disciplines to the icy continent for undertaking multi-disciplinary research since inception.

Only last month end, the NCAOR had flagged off its 26th Indian Antarctic Expedition in batches for the first time by flight through Capetown in South Africa to undertake research. Another batch is due to leave for the icy continent any time this month.

Research in the icy continents had been attracting many countries, the latest being Malaysia, among the 30 countries. Besides India, China, Japan and South Korea were the only countries from Asia participating in the Antarctic research.

The study of the ice-core shelf and lake sediments, flora and fauna besides the auroras, seismic changes and glaciology enables the scientists to study the climatic changes of the past millions of years.

This, in turn, help them collect, codify and collate data on the factors responsible for the past climatic changes so that they could generate climatic models to predict future climatic changes in the world.

UNI

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