Antarctic talks fail to better protect emperor penguins

TOKYO - China and Russia blocked annual talks on Antarctica from agreeing to upgrade protections for endangered emperor penguins, officials said May 21, despite growing threats posed to the continent by climate change and overtourism.

The meeting, held in 2026 in Japan’s Hiroshima region, wrapped up on May 21, with participants comprising the original 12 nations that signed the Antarctic Treaty – which now has 58 parties – as well as 17 others that conduct substantial research activity there.

Among the most closely watched issues in 2026 was the status of emperor penguins, which in April the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared endangered.

Conservation activists were counting on the Hiroshima meeting to declare the bird on Antarctica a specially protected species so that restrictions would be placed on shipping and tourism now adding pressure on the penguins.

Their numbers have plummeted primarily due to climate change that causes the sea ice where they live, hunt and breed to break up earlier in the year.

While the meeting affirmed the protection of emperor penguins as a priority, it stopped short of granting the specially protected species status.

China in particular “strongly opposed” the designation, with “Russia aligning itself with China”, Mr Hideki Uyama of Japan’s foreign affairs ministry, who chaired the meeting, told a news conference after the meeting ended.

While China recognised the survival risk for emperor penguins and even conceded the need to prioritise their protection, it maintained the upgraded designation would be “premature” and that alternatives should be pursued, Mr Uyama said.

“It was very disappointing that we failed to reach consensus,” he said.

At the same time, he described it as “an important step forward” that all participants concurred on continuing discussions on how to better protect the penguins and control human activity in the Antarctic.

Mr Rod Downie, conservation group WWF’s chief advisor on polar and oceans, said decision-making under the Antarctic Treaty was “failing to keep pace with the rapid rate of climate change”.

It is “deeply concerning that a very small minority of parties blocked consensus on this critical designation”, he said in a statement.

Also at issue at the meeting was how to manage the rising number of tourists flocking to the fragile continent.

Almost 120,000 visited Antarctica in 2024-2025 – and delegates mulled potential restrictions on areas or activities, as well as possible quotas.

The meeting agreed that existing environment assessment systems and guidelines should be utilised to strengthen measures against tourism activity, Uyama said.

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) – a global alliance of environmental organisations – hailed “progress in negotiations towards a framework for regulating tourism”.

“We cannot continue relying on largely voluntary guidelines while commercial tourism operations expand rapidly across the continent,” Mr Ricardo Roura, senior advisor for ASOC, said in a statement, calling for the establishment of legally enforceable rules. AFP