Excerpt: “Today, ahead of the 46th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, President Biden signed a National Security Memorandum (NSM) on United States Policy on the Antarctic Region. Under this policy, the United States will continue to lead cooperative international efforts through the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) to maintain the Antarctic Region for peaceful purposes; protect its relatively pristine environment and ecosystems, particularly given the key role Antarctica plays in the global climate system; and conduct critical scientific research, long into the future. … With this NSM, the United States aims to: 1) Protect the relatively unspoiled environment of the Antarctic Region and its associated ecosystems; 2) Preserve and pursue unique opportunities for scientific research and understand Antarctica’s relationship to global environmental change; 3) Maintain the Antarctic Region as an area of international cooperation reserved exclusively for peaceful purposes; and 4) Assure the protection and conservation of the living resources in and ecosystems of the Antarctic Region.”
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