World March launches campaign to protect the Poles
Press release –
World Peace March event at the Antarctica Monument in Wellington

A global appeal to protect the North and South Poles was launched at the Antarctica monument on Mount Victoria today by a team of peace walkers who will travel around the world promoting peace and nonviolence.

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence, which started in Wellington on 2 October and will travel through 90 countries in 90 days, is calling for both poles to be declared World Peace Parks in order to ensure that they are not destroyed by conflict, militarism or environmental disasters.

Already the Antarctic is a demilitarized and nuclear-free zone under collective management through the 1959 Antarctic Treaty and the subsequent Antarctic Treaty System. “It would not be a big step to bring it totally into the realm of the Global Commons making it a shared heritage for all nations and peoples,” says Gita Brooke organizer of the Whanganui-Wellington section of the World March and an initiator of the proposal.

“The importance of the Antarctic is not a very well known issue in the Northern Hemisphere” says Rafael de la Rubia, founder of the World March from Spain. “That’s why it´s so important for us to publicise this issue as we travel around the world”

“Protection of the poles is important for the whole world,” says Bunny McDiarmid Director of Greenpeace Aotearoa-New Zealand. “The melting of the polar ice-caps from climate-change – and the damage to polar ecosystems by over-fishing, whaling or pollution - impact on the environment everywhere.” says Ms McDiarmid.

“The shattering of the bridge connecting the Wilkins Ice Shelf to Antarctica earlier this year, and the rapid reduction of Arctic sea-ice come in stark contrast to the glacial pace of the international climate negotiations taking place in the capitals. New Zealand has to reduce its excessive carbon emissions by at least 40% and ensure other governments commit to the same at the forthcoming Copenhagen conference.”

“The Arctic peoples have asked us to help protect the North Pole,” says former NZ Minister for Disarmament Matt Robson who has just returned from a conference in Denmark on Arctic security issues. “They have seen the positive start that we have made with Antarctic Treaty and they want a similar demilitarized and nuclear free zone up north. In some ways it is even more important in the Arctic as there are serious territorial and resource disputes involving heavily armed countries, dramatic changes already happening to the ice-caps, as well as nuclear submarines prowling the waters.”

“Having been to Antarctica I know what beautiful but fragile environments exist at the poles,” says Mr Robson. “They must be protected for future generations and for our global ecosystem.”

As it travels around the globe, the World Peace March will be promoting its appeal in public forums, to key governments and to international organizations including the United Nations, Arctic Council, Nordic Council and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings.

ENDS

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