Commentary
China’s Antarctic Conservation Smokescreen
Thursday, 15 Oct, 2026
For years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has blocked the creation of a marine protected area (MPA) around the Antarctic Peninsula. Beijing’s latest act of subterfuge? Proposing an MPA of its own.
Commentary by Sea Shepherd Global's Chief Campaigns Director, Peter Hammerstedt.
Beijing is expected to introduce its own MPA proposal at the upcoming meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the intergovernmental body responsible for managing fisheries in the Southern Ocean.
According to reporting by Tiara Walters of Daily Maverick, who reviewed documents supplied to her, the proposed MPA would encompass waters Beijing refers to in its submission as the Cosmonauts Sea, a name originating with Soviet Antarctic expeditions in 1962.
The choice of name is no coincidence. It evokes Cold War-era imagery, serving as both a slight toward Western countries advocating stronger protections around the Antarctic Peninsula and a symbolic nod to Russia, the PRC’s fellow holdout against the establishment of an Antarctic Peninsula MPA supported by the other CCAMLR members.
The geographic placement is equally deliberate. Unlike the proposed MPA around the Antarctic Peninsula, which encompasses areas currently targeted by the industrial krill fishery, Beijing's proposal would “close” an area where krill fishing does not currently take place.
In a departure from what many would expect of a marine protected area, Beijing is not proposing year-round protection.
Instead, its proposal relies on seasonal closures, with the entire MPA set to expire after just 20 years.
That expiration date is particularly noteworthy. It would fall close to 2048, the year when the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty becomes eligible for review under a special procedure, including provisions governing the prohibition on Antarctic mining.
Some will view Beijing's proposal as better than nothing, considering nine years of failed efforts to create a marine protected area around one of Antarctica's most iconic ecosystems.
Peter Hammarstedt, Chief Campaigns Officer for Sea Shepherd Global.
But Beijing is attempting to redefine what constitutes meaningful marine protection, offering a token conservation measure covering less than 1% of the Southern Ocean while continuing to block longstanding proposals that, if adopted, would bring total protection of the Southern Ocean to approximately 26%.
The PRC's proposal is political theatre, a smokescreen designed to portray Beijing as a reasonable advocate of Antarctic conservation while it continues to obstruct meaningful protection of the Southern Ocean.
Learn more about Sea Shepherd Global's campaign to protect Antarctica.