DailyDirt: Imagine There's No Countries...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

If you've caught up on the Techdirt podcasts, you might have heard a brief mention of how Antarctica is split up and a bit of discussion on the possible ownership of the moon. The ownership of new lands will likely become a more important issue as the access to various inhospitable locations increases. Here are just a few links on claiming territories.

• The United Nations Outer Space Treaty states that no nation can claim ownership over the moon. However, there's some ambiguity in the treaty that might allow for private ownership, and there are already some people trying to stake claims -- with millions of acres of lunar property already bought/sold. [url]
• The ownership of land in Antarctica is a bit tricky and governed by the Antarctic Treaty which sets up the continent as a scientific reserve. Seven countries have claimed parts of Antarctica, with overlapping territories claimed by the United Kingdom, Chile and Argentina. [url]
• Denmark is claiming to own about half a million square miles of the North Pole (about 20 times the geographic size of the current Denmark) -- after spending over a decade and $50 million in research to support its claim to the UN. Five countries have a claim to parts of the North Pole: the US, Russia, Norway, Canada and Denmark. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: antarctica, geography, moon, north pole, south pole, space, space exploration, territory, treaties, united nations