Antarctica ‘too wild for humans to rule’, says Shackleton medal winner

Environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan lauded for his work to establish continent's legal status to protect its interests

Cormac Cullinan has a dream. A dream, he says, that will change how humanity sees, understands and relates to Antarctica". The vast frozen continent - home to emperor and Adelie penguins, leopard and Ross seals, and feeding grounds for orcas, beaked whales and albatrosses - should be recognised as an autonomous legal entity at least equivalent to a country", says the environmental lawyer.

And this week that dream became one step closer to reality as judges awarded Cullinan the Shackleton medal for the protection of the polar regions.