A note from an Antarctic investigative journalist

 

Last week, we fired off 20 questions that became a Wall Street Journal story. It began as a fact check: probing a call by a space communications firm urging US President Donald Trump to acquire a vast piece of Antarctica. Antarctic Treaty law forbids new territorial claims; the firm argued otherwise. We found former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the board. Within hours of declining to comment, the firm published a WSJ opinion piece addressing the issues we’d raised – before our 24-hour comment window expired. Daily Maverick broke this story. It sits atop more than 50 investigative pieces on banned Russian Antarctic prospecting filed from Cape Town. South Africa’s direct southern neighbour sits at the bottom of the world, and Daily Maverick remains the only newsroom in the world committing this much time and investigative resources to the Antarctic.

The Akademik Alexander Karpinsky, Rosgeo’s seismic survey vessel, in Table Bay Harbour, Cape Town, August 2020. (Photo: Tiara Walters) Here’s what that means in practice: Following our 2024 coverage, US energy sanctions were imposed on a Rosgeo survey vessel, dubbed Russia’s own “Flying Dutchman”; UK Antarctic policy to 2035 incorporated our expert-backed findings, after a parliamentary inquiry linked our reporting to recognition of possible treaty violations – the first time a UK inquiry had done so; The chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee called on Trump’s State Department nominee to explain how he’d oppose Russian Antarctic mineral activities; and In a historic move supported by South Africa, the Netherlands, Australia and South Korea proposed opening treaty meetings to more media access. This comes in response to our dogged “Ice Curtain” project, which has exposed how journalists are routinely excluded despite default access rules.

Southern Africa, Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand compared with Antarctica. (Image: Courtesy of Professor Ian Meiklejohn, Rhodes University Geography Department) Antarctica may feel far from your daily life. But it’s South Africa’s southern frontier. What happens there, from potential hydrocarbon exploitation to geopolitical power grabs, will not stay there. Without reporting like this, Antarctica is at risk of becoming a geopolitical black hole. Without us, the information stays under wraps. We exist because of readers like you. If you’ve been reading Daily Maverick without becoming a Maverick Insider, this is your invitation. For R75/month (or R900/year), you will fund the journalism that’s shaping Antarctic policy from Cape Town and beyond – and everything else we do.

Join our 32,000-strong Maverick Insider community today

Wishing you an ice day – long may it last. Tiara Walters Daily Maverick investigative journalist