Antarctica

Global warming is the warming up of the planet above the temperature it "should" be. It is such a concern at the moment as it seems that the temperature is rising at a rate far faster than ever before and it is thought that it may be the activities of the human population over the last 150 years or so that is doing it.

Mean temperatures over the whole planet have risen by about 0.74° C (1.33° F) in the last 100 years. More than half of this increase has happened in the last 25 years. The temperature records used to calculate this are extensive, they have been assembled from thousands of observation sites on land and sea covering a large, representative portion of the Earth's surface. Checks and allowances have been made for any bias that may have arisen from the weather stations or instrument changes.

This is a worry because while the planet can cope with changes in temperature which are known to have happened over periods of tens and hundreds of thousands of years in the past and certainly over millions of years.

The current rate of change is much, much faster than any changes have ever before as far as we are aware and this is a real problem as while animals and plants can adapt to slow changes by migration for instance, a rapid change will inevitably lead to large extinctions of many species. The human population of the earth is also dependent on a stable climate for established agriculture and also cities, millions if not billions of people stand to suffer from the consequences of global warming mainly the most vulnerable people in the undeveloped nations.

Climate changes in the past over Geological time periods (millions and tens of millions of years) have been very drastic. During cold periods, much of the planet, even thousands of miles from both poles have been ice covered by huge glaciers and during warm periods, the same regions may have been subtropical or even tropical. Accompanying this have been large changes in sea level so that some areas of land have either become flooded completely or left high and dry.

It is potentially an enormous problem as if the global temperature rises to a level where it is affecting the Antarctic icecaps, they may begin to melt and cause sea-level rises globally measured in meters. There are a great many cities around the world that are on the coast and they would be flooded and probably have to be abandoned. There are also a great many countries, especially poorer countries where a large part of the population live in coastal regions. In this case the farmland would be flooded and the people left homeless and without the ability to feed themselves. In some cases entire island nations (albeit small ones) in the Pacific Ocean could simply disappear.

There are two questions about Global Warming that the world has at the moment and neither of them has a clear answer, there is much scientific debate and an awful lot of political argument too.

There are no countries in Antarctica, however, several countries have "claimed" territory for their own in the past, though for the most part these claims are largely symbolic and the continent is treated as a nature preserve by the international community. Mostly, those claims are not recognized internationally, and the United States does not recognize any of them. The countries of Chile, Argentina, France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand have all made claims on Antarctica.

The United States Government has not claimed any land in Antarctica, though it has reserved the right to do so in the future (as has Russia). Large parts of the Antarctic coast and interior were first observed by American (U.S. Navy) sea captains and American aviators. In fact, the part of Antarctica called "Wilkes Land" was the first part of the Antarctic mainland that were ever seen, and it was named for Capt. John Wilkes of the U.S. Navy, the commander of the first ship to discover that seacoast. Other parts of Antarctica were first seen from airplanes commanded by Capt. Richard E. Byrd of the U.S. Navy. Byrd always had one or more crewmen on his flights, including his main pilot.

The leaders of the land exploration of Antarctica came from the United Kingdom(Shackleton and Scott) and Norway(Amundsen).

Actually no, there aren't, that's a myth. What your thinking of is The Arctic Wolf. The Arctic Wolf (Canis lupus arctos), also called Snow Wolf or White Wolf, is a subspecies of the gray wolf, a mammal of the family Canidae. Arctic wolves inhabit the Canadian Arctic, Alaska and the northern parts of Greenland.

Antarctica is just above the south pole at the opposite end of the planet from the Arctic wolf. Anarctica is home to Weddell Seals, Orcas, Rockhopper Penguins, Black-browed Albatross, Leopard Seal, Blue Whale, Adelie Penguin, Antarctic Shag, Crabeater Seal, Wandering Albatross, Antarctic Fur Seal, Emperor Penguin, Southern Elephant Seal, Chinstrap Penguin, and the Ross Seal. Because Antarctica is so cold, all of these animals live in or near the water and depend on it for food. They are all protected by thick layers of fat called blubber.

Polar Bears are also often thought to live in Antarctica, but this is also a myth. Polar bears are found at the northern end of the planet in what is known as the Arctic region. There are 19 different populations of polar bears, and all live in the Arctic region. This is the area that is north of the Arctic Circle, which lies at 66 degrees, 32 minutes North latitude. If you're hoping to see a polar bear in the wild, you'd need to go to one of the following countries:

• United States (Alaska)
• Canada, including the provinces and territories of Manitoba, Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon Territory)
• Greenland/Denmark
• Norway
• Russian Federation

Polar bears are native to the countries above, and occasionally are found in Iceland.

Answer

It is not "legal" for anyone to move to Antarctica, because The Antarctic Treaty System, signed by 46 countries, some having territorial claims, some without such claims to the continent, preserves it for scientific research purposes. While certain countries reserve the right to make claims in the future, all have agreed not to do so while the treaty is in effect.

This means that no country may enforce its laws in Antarctica; therefore, no one has a right to simply move there and establish ownership rights. No one may stake a claim to any portion of the continent because no government has the legal authority to enforce such a claim against other people.

The ATS further requires signatory nations to pass laws in their own countries, binding their own citizens to the terms of the treaty.

Many sources point out that there are no indigenous people on Antarctica, therefore there is no "government." Never the less, governing functions are carried out according to the ATS with the cooperation of the 46 member nations. Virtually all of Antarctica is claimed by one or more countries however they are neither pressing nor relinquishing their claims. If some group were to move to Antarctica and attempt to set up a government, the claim to that spot of land would undoubtedly conflict with some country's claim and that country would assert its claim against the intruding party. No country would sit quietly by and allow some individual or organization set up a colony on its territorial claim. The ATS might permit the claiming nation to evict the individual or group by using its military forces even though in general the Antarctic is not permitted to be used for military purposes.

The ATS requires member nations to pass laws prohibiting their citizens from acting contrary to the terms of the ATS. Title 16 Chapter 44 Section 2401, et seq. contains a list of prohibited activities as well as both civil and criminal penalties for individuals or organizations of the United States taking actions contrary to the ATS.

Some people might suggest that if there is no law covering the Antarctic then it would be unlawful for any individual, organization or country to evict a colony. This is nonsensical, since, if there is no law governing the area, then it would not be unlawful for one entity to forcibly remove another entity from any location not governed by law.

The ATS also provides in its 1919 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty that for the present actions to exploit mineral resources in the area are prohibited unless done for purposes of scientific research.

In the end, it is all about International Law and cooperation among nations, rather than individual countries exercising sovereignty over territories, that keeps Antarctica pristine.

One last thing about setting up home in the Antarctic. The ATS and Title 16 Chapter 44, Section 2403(b)(2) of the United States Code forbids the introduction of any member of a nonnative species to the Antarctic unless authorized by permit. In other words: NO PETS ALLOWED.