The agreement seeks to enhance the study of the political and legal dimensions of the Asian giant's presence on the white continent, combining the experience of both research centers.
The Millennium Nucleus China's Impacts in Latin America and the Caribbean (ICLAC) and the Millennium Institute Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic Ecosystems (BASE) have sealed a collaboration agreement to study the impact of China's activities on the Antarctic Continent and its ecosystems. This alliance unites ICLAC's trajectory in the study of Sino-Latin American relations with the Millennium Institute BASE's knowledge in biodiversity of Antarctic and subantarctic ecosystems.
Francisco Urdinez, UC Political Science academic and ICLAC director, highlighted the relevance of this collaboration: "This alliance is tremendously valuable because it combines ICLAC's expertise in international relations and Chinese politics with the cutting-edge scientific knowledge of the Millennium Institute BASE on Antarctic ecosystems.We hope that this interdisciplinary collaboration will allow us to develop new methodologies to analyze how China's activities in Antarctica —from scientific research to fishing— impact both the continent's governance and the biodiversity of these unique ecosystems. It's a comprehensive perspective that goes beyond traditional approaches".
"Studying China's Antarctic projection from Latin America is fundamental for a better understanding of the impacts of its presence in a territory that, although remote, is deeply connected with global dynamics. This collaboration between the Millennium Institute BASE and the Millennium Nucleus ICLAC is a unique opportunity to generate situated and strategic knowledge from our region, intending to contribute both to academia and to Chile's foreign policy in the short, medium, and long term", says Giovannina Sutherland, doctoral researcher at the Millennium Institute BASE and adjunct at ICLAC.
For his part, the academic from the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile and principal researcher of the Millennium Institute BASE, in charge of the Governance line, Dr. Luis Valentín Ferrada, affirms that "China's growing involvement in Antarctica raises relevant questions from a legal and political point of view. This alliance with a center of studies specializing in China's relations with Latin American countries will enable us to address these challenges from a broader, interdisciplinary perspective, integrating international law, international relations, and scientific knowledge of Antarctic and subantarctic ecosystems. Strengthening this type of collaboration is key to anticipating scenarios and contributing to decision-making with robust evidence, collaborating from academia with the role that Chile plays in Antarctic governance".
The agreement establishes a series of mutual commitments to enhance joint work. Both institutions will collaborate in the proposal and execution of multidisciplinary research, share information and access to databases, and support the projects of their respective researchers and students. Likewise, the agreement contemplates conducting talks for training their teams, joint publication of the obtained results, and organizing periodic meetings to maintain fluid contact and coordinate advances in collaboration.
This agreement, with an initial duration of one year and tacitly renewable, will allow generating frontier knowledge on a topic of high geopolitical and environmental relevance, strengthening Chilean research with international projection.