World Peace March launches campaign to protect poles

A global call to protect the North and South Poles was launched at the Antarctica monument on Mount Victoria  by a team of peace walkers who are travelling around the world promoting peace and nonviolence. The  World March for Peace and Nonviolence, which started in Wellington on 2 October and is travelling through 90 countries in 90 days, calls for both poles to be declared World Peace Parks in order to ensure that they are not destroyed by conflict, militarism or environmental disasters.

“The Antarctic could be an area of intense territorial and resource conflicts,” said Alyn Ware,  Vice-President of the International Peace Bureau.  “However, the interested countries negotiated the 1959 Antarctic Treaty which made the region a demilitarized and nuclear-free zone, managed by a cooperative regime. This is a very positive example to the rest of the world. We need a similar regime in the Arctic region where conflicts are heating up, nuclear-armed submarines are on the prowl, and environmental damage is escalating”.

The event featured remarks by the Hon Matt Robson, former New Zealand minister for Disarmament who added that the Arctic peoples have asked for help to protect the Arctic. “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. Alyn Ware and I thus worked with parliamentarians, scientists, indigenous peoples, academics and civil society leaders in Copenhagen last month to draft a declaration to promote the proposal for an Arctic demilitarized and nuclear-free zone.”  Robson argued that it is urgent to protect the fragile environment that exists in the Arctic and it must be protected for our future generations.

Kate Smith, from Operation Peace through Unity, stated that “We are calling for the Antarctic and Arctic to be declared a Peace Parks in order to provide absolute protection in this fragile environment” and furthermore that“we invite people to support the Antarctic Peace Park declaration, and to initiate a similar one for the Arctic.”  As the peace march travels around the world we are called to support the protection of the Arctic as it carries global importance,  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.

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Tagged as: Arctic, World March for Peace, World Peace Parks