View source for Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities

{{Short description|Unratified 1988 treaty concerning Antarctica}}
{{expand German|CRAMRA|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox treaty
| name               = 
| long_name          = Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities
| image              =
| image_width        =
| caption            =
| type               =
| date_drafted       =
| date_signed        = 2 June 1988
| location_signed    = [[Wellington]]
| date_sealed        =
| date_effective     = Not in force
| condition_effective = 
| date_expiration    = 
| signatories        =
| parties            = 19
| ratifiers          = None
| depositor          = New Zealand
| language           = 
| languages          = 
| wikisource         = 
}}
The '''Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities''' (popular as CRAMRA) is an unratified treaty that is part of the [[Antarctic Treaty System]]. The convention was concluded at [[Wellington]] on 2 June 1988.<ref name="gov">{{cite web |title=Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities |url=https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/about-us/who-we-are/treaties/convention-on-the-regulation-of-antarctic-mineral-resource-activities |website=New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade |access-date=21 June 2025 |language=en-NZ}}</ref> The government of New Zealand is the depository of the treaty.<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 May 2020 |title=ENTRI -- Treaty Summary |url=https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/entri/register/reg-151.rrr.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509230252/https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/entri/register/reg-151.rrr.html |archive-date=9 May 2020 |access-date=31 January 2024 }}</ref>

The convention was signed by 19 states, but none have ratified it.<ref name="gov" /> Originally intended as "an international mining framework [...], which sought to regulate any possible future resource extraction",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dodds |first=Klaus |date=12 July 2018 |title=In 30 years the Antarctic Treaty becomes modifiable, and the fate of a continent could hang in the balance |url=http://theconversation.com/in-30-years-the-antarctic-treaty-becomes-modifiable-and-the-fate-of-a-continent-could-hang-in-the-balance-98654 |access-date=31 January 2024 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> the treaty eventually faced backlash by France and Australia and was never ratified.<ref name=bas-20211004>{{cite web |url=https://www.bas.ac.uk/blogpost/30thanniversaryenvironmentalprotocol/ |title=Saving Antarctica! The 30th Anniversary of the signing of the Protocol on Environmental Protection |last=Dodds |first=Klaus |website=British Antarctic Survey |date=4 October 2021 |access-date=27 April 2025}}</ref> It was primarily rejected by developing states which objected to control of mineral resource activities by the [[Antarctic Treaty System|1959 Antarctic Treaty]] Consultative Parties, arguing that Antarctica was common heritage.<ref name="vir">{{cite journal |last1=Tenenbaum |first1=Ellen S. |title=A World Park in Antarctica: The Common Heritage of Mankind |journal=Virginia Environmental Law Journal. |date=1990 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=110-122 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24782081 |access-date=21 June 2025}}</ref> It established property rights and gave special privileges to seven claimant states – including the UK.<ref name="info" /> If passed, it included 67 articles, with 7 chapters.<ref name="info">{{cite book |title=Polar Prospects: A Minerals Treaty for Antarctica |date=1989 |publisher=Congress of the United States Office of Technology Assessment |pages=186-209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ0CuWa0SbMC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA185&dq=%22Convention+on+the+Regulation+of+Antarctic+Mineral+Resource+Activities%22&hl=de#v=onepage&q=%22Convention%20on%20the%20Regulation%20of%20Antarctic%20Mineral%20Resource%20Activities%22&f=false |access-date=21 June 2025 |language=en}}</ref> Focus later shifted from possible resource extraction to environmental protection, the CRAMPA was shelved and in 1998 the [[Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty]] (Madrid Protocol)<ref>L. Ivanov and N. Ivanova. CRAMRA Convention. In: [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364087925_The_World_of_Antarctica ''The World of Antarctica''.] Generis Publishing, 2022. pp. 140-143. {{ISBN|979-8-88676-403-1}}</ref> came into force. Therefore, the convention never entered into force.

After its one-year signature period on 25 November 1989 it was not entered into force, after both France and Australia declined to sign it.<ref name="vir" /> Due to this, the topic was discussed at the Fifteenth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Conference in October 1989, where a special consultative meeting was agreed to be held in Santiago, Chile.<ref name="vir" />

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*Text of the treaty<ref>{{Cite web |date=1988-06-02 |title=Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities. Done at Wellington 2 June 1988. Not in force |url=https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/entri/texts/acrc/cramra.txt.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123081925/https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/entri/texts/acrc/cramra.txt.html |archive-date=2019-01-23}}</ref>  ([https://www.ats.aq/documents/recatt/Att311_e.pdf PDF] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230922161604/https://documents.ats.aq/recatt/Att311_e.pdf Archive])).

[[Category:Antarctica agreements]]
[[Category:1988 in Antarctica]]
[[Category:Treaties concluded in 1988]]
[[Category:Unratified treaties]]
[[Category:1988 in New Zealand]]