scholarly journals Selecting Antarctic Specially Protected Areas: Important Bird Areas can help

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Cooper ◽  
Eric Woehler ◽  
Lee Belbin
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Scientific Investigations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Habitat Matrix ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Specially Protected Areas ◽  
Selection Of

A key element in Antarctic conservation over the past forty years has been area protection. In pursuit of this and the protection of continuing scientific investigations 59 protected areas have so far been agreed by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings. Although both flora and fauna have been protected under this regime there has only been the habitat matrix devised by SCAR as a guide to selection of areas. What could we do to improve the process of identification and selection?

scholarly journals Management of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas: permitting, visitation and information exchange practices

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.R. Pertierra ◽  
K.A. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Full Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Management Practices ◽  
Previous Season ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Specially Protected Areas

AbstractAntarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) represent the highest level of area protection within the Antarctic Treaty area. To reduce environmental impacts, ASPA visitors must comply with the Area's management plan and receive an entry permit from an appropriate national authority. Parties to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty are obliged to exchange information on: i) the number of permits allocated for the forthcoming season, and ii) the number of visits to ASPAs during the previous season. We assessed the effectiveness of current permitting and information exchange practices by examining ASPA visitation data supplied to the Antarctic Treaty System's Electronic Information Exchange System during 2008/09–2010/11. We found that Parties have interpreted and implemented the protected area legislation inconsistently. Furthermore, some Parties did not fulfil their obligations under the Protocol by failing to provide full information on ASPA visitation. Estimations suggested that the level of ASPA visitation varied with ASPA location and the main value being protected. However, without full disclosure by Parties, ASPA visitation data is of limited use for informing general and ASPA-specific environmental management practices. Improved provision and formal interpretation of ASPA visitation data are recommended to enable more co-ordinated and effective management of activities within ASPAs.

Improving the use of biological data in Antarctic management

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 425-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen A. Lynch ◽  
Catherine M. Foley ◽  
Lesley H. Thorne ◽  
Heather J. Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Biological Data ◽  
Independent Validation ◽  
Data Practices ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Specially Protected Areas

AbstractThe Antarctic Treaty System requires that the effects of potential human disturbance be evaluated, such as through the development and evaluation of Initial and Comprehensive Environmental Evaluations (IEEs and CEEs), and through the implementation of Management Plans for Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas (ASMAs). The effectiveness of these management processes hinges on the quality and transparency of the data presented, particularly because independent validation is often difficult or impossible due to the financial and logistical challenges of working in the Antarctic. In a review of these documents and their treatment of wildlife survey data, we find that the basic elements of best data practices are often not followed; biological data are often uncited or out-of-date and rarely include estimates of uncertainty that would allow any subsequent changes in the distribution or abundance of wildlife to be rigorously assessed. We propose a set of data management and use standards for Antarctic biological data to improve the transparency and quality of these evaluations and to facilitate improved assessment of both immediate and long-term impacts of human activities in the Antarctic.

Protected areas review: McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea

Polar Record ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (174) ◽  
pp. 189-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin M. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
The United States ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Field Information ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractAs a result of new provisions in the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty a number of countries are reviewing the management plans for protected areas in Antarctica. The United States and New Zealand have initiated a review of the 15 existing sites in the Ross Sea region, using an independent party, the International Centre for Antarctic Information and Research, to facilitate and coordinate the process. Management provisions are being revised to comply with the Protocol, and improved maps for the sites are being prepared using Geographical Information Systems. Visits in 1993/94 gathered field information, and thus far two sites have had new plans drafted: these are proceeding through the international review process. Input and comment is invited from interested parties with experience in these areas.

The Déjà vu System of International Trusteeship in Continental Antarctica: A Textual Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-131
Author(s):  
Xueping Li
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Continental Antarctica ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Deja Vu ◽  
Déjà Vu ◽  
The Antarctic

In the name of environmental protection, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting seems to have borrowed the paradigm of international trusteeship of the United Nations for managing the Antarctic land-based protected areas. By comparing and analysing the critical questions highly concerned, this paper offers preliminary thoughts on the development and refinement of the conception of land-based protected areas as a déjà vu system of international trusteeship and its surrounding legal applications and implications in continental Antarctica, and challenges the direction followed by this system in protecting Antarctic intrinsic values in legal discourse.

scholarly journals Management and remediation of contaminated sites at Casey Station, Antarctica

Polar Record ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 37 (202) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Snape ◽  
Martin J. Riddle ◽  
Jonathan S. Stark ◽  
Coleen M. Cole ◽  
Catherine K. King ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Priorities ◽  
Contaminated Sites ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
Monitoring Site ◽  
The Past ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Technical Capability ◽  
Operational Plan ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Casey Station

AbstractThe Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty requires that past and present work sites be cleaned up unless removal would result in greater adverse environmental impact than leaving the contaminant in its existing location. In the early 1990s Australia began the documentation of contaminated sites associated with its research stations, which resulted in an extensive record of contamination at abandoned stations and waste-disposal sites. Currently the technical capability to remediate these sites does not exist because of environmental challenges that are unique to the cold regions. Investigations indicate that clean-up operations in the past have proceeded without adequate precautions and without effective monitoring. To address these problems, three research priorities have been identified to assist meeting international and national obligations to clean up these sites. They are: understanding contaminant mobilisation processes; development of ecological risk assessment for use in monitoring and setting priorities; and development of clean-up and remediation procedures. This study provides sufficient information to guide the completion of a clean-up at Casey Station and to indicate how other similar sites should be managed. The next stage is to develop the theory into an operational plan to include detailed protocols for clean-up, monitoring, site remediation, and management of the waste stream from site to final repository. To achieve this, the Australian Antarctic Division has established a contaminated sites taskforce to facilitate the transition from research and development of techniques to implementation of suitable clean-up options.

scholarly journals Antarctic climate change and the environment: an update

Polar Record ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Turner ◽  
Nicholas E. Barrand ◽  
Thomas J. Bracegirdle ◽  
Peter Convey ◽  
Dominic A. Hodgson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Assessment Report ◽  
The Past ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Antarctic Research ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Relevant Material

ABSTRACTWe present an update of the ‘key points’ from the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (ACCE) report that was published by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) in 2009. We summarise subsequent advances in knowledge concerning how the climates of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean have changed in the past, how they might change in the future, and examine the associated impacts on the marine and terrestrial biota. We also incorporate relevant material presented by SCAR to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, and make use of emerging results that will form part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report.

Antarctic Treaty Summit: Science-Policy Interactions in International Governance

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 527-541
Author(s):  
Paul Arthur Berkman
Keyword(s):  
Science Policy ◽  
50Th Anniversary ◽  
International Governance ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Open Forum ◽  
Policy Interactions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
The City

Abstract For the past five decades, the Antarctic Treaty has provided a firm foundation for ongoing international cooperation to successfully manage nearly ten percent of the Earth for “peaceful purposes only ... on the basis of freedom of scientific investigation.” Growing from seven claimant and five non-claimant signatories, the Antarctic Treaty now engages 47 nations, representing nearly 90 percent of humankind. To assess the legacy lessons of the Antarctic Treaty and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its December 1, 1959 signature in the city where it was adopted in “in the interest of all mankind” – the Antarctic Treaty Summit: Science-Policy Interactions in International Governance will be convened in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, from November 30 to December 3, 2009. The Antarctic Treaty Summit will provide a unique open forum for scientists, legislators, administrators, lawyers, historians, educators, executives, students and other members of civil society to share insights. Together, this international and interdisciplinary group of stakeholders will explore science-policy achievements and precedents for sustained peaceful governance of international spaces that cover nearly 75 percent of the Earth’s surface beyond national jurisdictions.

Identifying national interests in Antarctica: the case of Canada

Polar Record ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 32 (183) ◽  
pp. 335-346
Author(s):  
Peter J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
National Interests ◽  
The Past ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Politics And Law ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Treaty System

ABSTRACTDuring the past decade, most publications on Antarctic politics and law have concentrated upon broader developments at the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) level. Less attention has been devoted to the nature of national interests in Antarctica and ways of balancing different policy objectives through time. Canada, though failing to accede to the Antarctic Treaty until 1988, offers a useful case study illuminating the broad range of interests influencing the policy of individual governments toward Antarctica, and particularly the reasons why states lacking clear national interests therein participate in the ATS. For Canada, Antarctica has always been viewed principally from an Arctic perspective. The resulting low priority of Antarctica explains Canada's initial non-involvement in the ATS. However, by the late 1980s, accession to the Antarctic Treaty was deemed desirable on policy grounds, even if Canada assumed only alow key role in the ATS, at least until 1994–1995, when the appointment of an Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs was apparently followed by a more active bi-polar strategy.

scholarly journals The need for geological protection in Antarctica?

1990 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-285
Author(s):  
K. Birkenmajer
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Waste Disposal ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Terrestrial Plants ◽  
The Past ◽  
Breeding Grounds ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
The Antarctic

During the past 30 years or so, the primary objects of environmental protection in Antarctica were living organisms such as penguins and seals, and their breeding grounds, terrestrial plants and their habitats. The ever growing threats to the icy continent, resulting from increasing human activities, lead SCAR, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs), and recently also the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP) to seek improved measures for conservation of the Antarctic fauna and flora, to actively participate in the preparation of conventions for protection of seals and other marine living organisms, and to elaborate a mandatory code for waste disposal.

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