What should be the role of Indigenous voices in Antarctic governance (and, eventually, in the governance of other planetary commons)? In this presentation, I start by proposing that Antarctica should be represented in global fora where decisions are made that relevantly affect the continent. I then ask about the specific role that Indigenous voices should have in that representation. Although there has been a tendency to point to the special role that peoples like the Māori or the Mapuche should play in this process, I suggest that we should resist it to the extent that it appeals to the same justificatory strategies that the claimants invoked to claim Antarctic territory (namely, “we were there first!” or “we are the closest”). Instead, Indigenous voices should be incorporated first as observers and eventually as full participants in Antarctic Treaty Meetings and fora like the CoPs of the UNFCCC and the Convention on Biodiversity. This should be done not because of where they come from, but because of where they lead to; namely, a greater emphasis on Responsible Guardianship of Nature, which the Antarctic Treaty and its Environmental Protocol already implicitly recognize as guiding principles.
Alejandra Mancilla is professor of Philosophy at IFIKK.