In the course of the 1990s, international cooperative efforts concerning both the Arctic and the Antarctic have come to share one significant similarity: an emphasis on international protection of the polar environment in general, and the polar marine environment in particular. It maybe tempting to see this as a natural consequence of the special features of polar regions, with their environment characterised by diffcult ice conditions, including large areas of iceinfested waters – and increased environmental risks which human activities involve in this setting. This is what, broadly speaking, the opposite poles have in common, and is also what sets them apart from all other parts of the globe. However, this ‘first glance’ impression of a shared environmental focus due to shared polar features may not apply when it comes to political realities and legal measures. A closer look at current international instruments and institutional arrangements for environmental protection of the two polar oceans, adopted through the respective regional cooperation arrangements, reveals a some what paradoxical situation.

As regards the Southern Ocean, recent assessments confirm that the overall threat of pollution of its marine environment from sources within the region appears generally low. Nevertheless, the states parties to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty supplemented that treaty more recently with a comprehensive environmental protection instrument: the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.