"It would really clarify the responsibility of actors in the Antarctic," Marie Jacobsson, international legal advisor at Sweden's Foreign Ministry told Reuters ahead of the 28th Antarctic Consultative Meeting from June 6-17.

The proposed liability agreement, which comes after two decades of negotiations, would force the 45 nations that have signed the Antarctic Treaty to introduce such liability laws for companies operating on the continent.

Under the agreement, organisations would also have to take all possible precautions before being allowed to operate in Antarctica, which means there will be "less risk of an emergency happening", Jacobsson said.

While governments are already required to make environmental impact studies of activities in Antarctica, there is currently no mechanism to determine legal responsibility and possible compensation if disasters happen.

The situation is even more complex because seven countries claim Antarctic territory, with some of those claims overlapping. Other countries recognise no claims to the continent, which covers an area the size of the United States and Mexico combined.

The Antarctic became the world's first and only demilitarised continent with the signing of a treaty in 1959. Scientists increasingly see it as a vital indicator of the state of the global environment and a unique resource for research.

But climate change and increased human activity present a growing threat.