Oil spills, shipwrecks, dumped waste, an ill-advised nuclear reactor -- human interaction in Antarctica has a history of pushing the last great wilderness to the edge of ecological disaster. Now, apart from climate change, mass tourism is the greatest threat the continent has ever faced.
For more than a century, the emblem of a red cross on a white background has saved the lives of people in war zones across the globe. It has also acted as a badge of safety for those who wear it. But now the neutrality and independence of the Red Cross Red Crescent is fast becoming a casualty of a global war on terror that threatens to obliterate the capacity of humanitarian aid agencies to operate in areas of conflict.