November 13, 2023

Registration for the Antarctic Workshop on Dec.1 is now open !

PCRC will convene an international workshop on “The Future of Antarctic Governance: Antarctic Environmental Liability and Lawyers’ Role in Consensus-building”, on December 1, Friday. This seminar will be held face-to-face at GSICS, Kobe University, Kobe-city, Japan. The lawyers and policy experts from four Asian Consultative Parties will gather in Kobe to discuss about the future of Antarctic governance under the Antarctic Treaty and its Environmental Protocol. We would like to invite you and your colleagues to engage in this exciting and important workshop in-person at the venue. It will also be available for auditing via ZOOM Webinar. Please see the flyer for more details. This flyer will be updated regularly until the start of the workshop.

November 7, 2023

Featured co-authored article by Director Shibata on Antarctic tourism and consensus published in American Journal of International Law !

In Vol. 117, Issue ４ of The American Journal of International Law, the highest impact factor international law journal in the world, Director Shibata has published a featured co-authored article with Professor Bastmeijer of Univerisity of Groningen, Senior Fellow Evan Bloom of Wilson Center and others, on the difficulties and possible solutions of the ATCM consensus-based decision making as regards Antarctic toursim regulation. As the Consultative Parties prepare to convene a Special Working Group on the issue at Indian ATCM in 2024, this Article not only is a significant academic achievements in detailed examination of its history and contexts, but also will provide a policy impetus for further effective regulations of ever-increasing and diversifying human activities in the Antarctic.
◦Open Access from this link
◦See Wilson Center's annoucement

November 6, 2023

Guest speaker from Australia talks on Southern Ocean and law of the sea

PCRC welcomes the visit from University of Woolongong, Australia, of Ms. Anaïs Rémont, Ph. D candidate who is researching on the interaction between international legal regimes in the Southern Ocean under the direction of Distingushed Professor Stuart Kaye. She is originally from France. In our 26th International Law Seminar, Anaïs looks at the Antarctica' History and Challenges ahead through the lens of international law of the sea and newly adopted Agreement for the conservation and the sustainable use of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). This seminar is open and we welcome your participation. For the details, please refere to the flyer.

October 5, 2023

Director Shibata and his ArCS II international law team will have a huge presence at 2023 Arctic Circle Assembly and Polar Law Symposium

Director Shibata and his ArCS II international law team, comprising of Profs. Nishimoto (Tohoku U), Osakada (Chuo U), Kojima (Chuo U), Kobayashi (Otaru Commercial U) and early career scholars Dr. Inagaki (Kobe U) and Mr. Suzuki (McGill U), in collaboration with international scholars such as Timo Koivurova (Lapland U), Rachael Lorna Johnstone (Akureyri), Hyoung Chul Shin (KOPRI), and Patrick Flamm (Frankfurt Peace Research Institute) will have their sessions and presentations at 2023 Arctic Circle Assembly at Reykjavik, Iceland, 19-22 October, and at 16th Polar Law Symposium at Torshavn, Faroe Islands, 25-28 October. Check out the latest programs from those two important Arctic and Antarctic conferences. Director Shibata will also give several lectures at University of Akureyri Polar Law Master’s Program, on October 16 (in-person) and November 27 (online).

October 2, 2023

International Workshop on the Future of Antarctic Governance with experts from China, India and Korea gathering in Kobe, December 1!

The future of Antarctic governance under the Antarctic Treaty and its Environmental Protocol faces several challenges today, many of them involving intricate legal issues. One of them is the long-overdue entering into force of Annex VI on Environmental Liability. Lawyers and policy experts from four Asian Consultative Parties will gather in Kobe to discuss how they can assist in overcoming those challenges and strengthening the Antarctic governance under the Rule of Law. Request for in-person participation should be notified to the symposium secretariat as soon as possible. See the flyer for details.

August 10, 2023

Director Shibata engaging in 2023 North Pacific Arctic Conference organized by prestigious East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii

Director Shibata was invited to engage with government officials, scholars, experts and Indigenous representatives gathered for the North Pacific Arctic Conference, the theme for 2023 being “Arctic Governance: Steering Through Sea Changes and Charting New Courses”, 16-18 August 2023, jointly organized by Korea Maritime Institute (KMI) and East-West Center (EWC) of the United States of America. Director Shibata will make a presentation in a session on Arctic science diplomacy, bringing his expertise on treaty-based international scientific cooperation schemes, namely Arctic Science Cooperation Agreement and Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement, with a comparative analysis of the Antarctic Treaty system. For details of the Conference, please see the EWC website.