Antarctica

Who claims Antarctica?

Seven countries claim parts of Antarctica. The United Kingdom made the first claim in 1908. Its British Antarctic Territory covers 20°W to 80°W south of 60°S. New Zealand claimed the Ross Dependency in 1923 (160°E to 150°W). France claimed Adélie Land in 1924 (136°E to 142°E). Australia claimed the Australian Antarctic Territory in 1933, about 42% of the continent, on both sides of Adélie Land. Norway claimed Peter I Island in 1929 and Queen Maud Land in 1939 (20°W to 45°E). In 2015 the Norwegian government said its claim reaches the South Pole. Chile claimed 53°W to 90°W in 1940, and Argentina claimed 25°W to 74°W in 1943.

The British, Chilean and Argentine claims overlap on the Antarctic Peninsula. In 1952 Argentine soldiers fired warning shots over a British survey team at Hope Bay. Argentina governs its claim as part of Tierra del Fuego Province, together with the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas and also claims. Chile governs its claim from its Magallanes region.

The sector from 150°W to 90°W, most of it Marie Byrd Land, is claimed by no country. The United States and Russia reserve the right to make claims.

What does the Antarctic Treaty do?

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on December 1, 1959 by 12 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. It entered into force on June 23, 1961.

Article IV is the core of the treaty. It does not settle the claims or ask anyone to drop them. Nothing done while the treaty is in force can support or deny a claim, and no new or enlarged claim can be made. Claimant countries read this as preserving their rights. Non-claimant countries read it as recognizing nobody's. The text allows both readings.

The treaty bans military activity and nuclear testing. It guarantees freedom of research and lets any Consultative Party inspect any station. It has no expiration date.

Today the treaty has 58 parties. Twenty-nine of them are Consultative Parties, which take decisions by consensus at a yearly meeting. The 48th meeting was held in Hiroshima, Japan, from May 11 to 21, 2026. A proposal to list the emperor penguin as a Specially Protected Species did not reach consensus. Kyodo News, citing people familiar with the talks, reported that China opposed the listing and Russia backed China.

Can anyone mine Antarctica?

No, not under the current rules. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, signed in Madrid in 1991 and in force since January 14, 1998, bans all mineral resource activity other than scientific research. The ban has no end date.

Until 2048, the Protocol can only be changed by unanimous agreement of the Consultative Parties. From January 2048, any Consultative Party can ask for a conference to review it. A change adopted there needs a majority of all parties, including three-quarters of the 26 countries that were Consultative Parties when the Protocol was adopted in 1991. It takes effect only after three-quarters of the Consultative Parties ratify it, including all 26 of those countries. The mining ban stays unless a binding legal regime for mining is in force.

No one knows how much oil lies under Antarctica. In February 2026 the US Geological Survey published an estimate for one area, the Larsen Basin east of the Antarctic Peninsula. It put the mean at 269 million barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 14.3 trillion cubic feet of gas. Deposits of coal and iron ore are also known.

What are Russia and China doing in Antarctica?

Russia's state geology company Rosgeo has run seismic surveys off Antarctica for decades, including in areas claimed by Britain and Norway, with the research vessel Akademik Alexander Karpinsky. The United States sanctioned the vessel in February 2024. In May 2024, The Telegraph reported that evidence given to the UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee put the oil and gas in the surveyed areas at about 511 billion barrels. Russia has not confirmed the figure. Klaus Dodds of Royal Holloway, University of London, called the surveys "a precursor for forthcoming resource extraction." Rosgeo says its work in Antarctica is scientific and follows the treaty.

China opened its fifth station, Qinling, on Inexpressible Island in the Ross Sea on February 7, 2024. It houses 80 people in summer and 30 in winter. A CSIS analysis said a planned satellite ground station there could collect signals over Australia and New Zealand. China rejects claims of espionage. In 2025 China proposed a sixth station, a summer base for 25 people, at Cox Point in the unclaimed sector, with a target opening in 2027.

Neither China nor Russia has made a territorial claim. Russia, like the United States, reserves the right to make one.

What else is happening in Antarctica?

Tourism and fishing are the two largest commercial activities in and around Antarctica.

About 113,000 tourists visited Antarctica in the 2025-2026 season, according to IAATO figures reported in May 2026. The peak was about 122,000 in 2023-2024. Most tourists sail from Ushuaia in Argentina. Under IAATO rules, ships carrying more than 500 passengers cannot land anyone. The 2026 Consultative Meeting worked toward a common framework for regulating tourism but adopted no binding rules.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) manages Southern Ocean fishing. It has 27 members and decides by consensus. Krill is the main catch. The krill fishery reached its 620,000-tonne trigger level and closed early for the first time on August 1, 2025, and again on August 12, 2026. Norway's ships took about half of the 2025 catch and China's about 37%. CCAMLR's 45th meeting, in Hobart from October 19 to 30, 2026, ended without agreement on new krill rules or on any new marine protected area, including a reserve off the Antarctic Peninsula proposed by Argentina and Chile.