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we find that the basic elements of best data practices are often not followed; biological data are often uncited or out-of-date and rarely include estimates of uncertainty that would allow any subsequent changes in the distribution or abundance of wildlife to be rigorously assessed.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.

Conflicting science requirements impact on rare moss conservation measures

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis R. Pertierra ◽  
Francisco Lara ◽  
Javier Benayas ◽  
Ronald I. Lewis-Smith ◽  
Kevin A. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Deception Island ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Geothermal Activity ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
The Status ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Specially Protected Areas ◽  
Antarctic Environment

AbstractThe Antarctic Treaty recognizes the outstanding scientific values of the Antarctic environment through the designation of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) that have rigorous management plans specific to each site. Deception Island has the largest concentration of rare bryophyte species and communities in Antarctica, while also offering substantial opportunities for research in a range of scientific disciplines due to its volcanic nature. As a result, conflicts between research interests and conservation goals may arise. On the summit ridge of Caliente Hill severe trampling damage to the moss assemblages growing in association with localized geothermal activity was observed. The range of species affected included the entire known population of Schistidium deceptionense, an endemic moss known only from this site, as well as other very rare Antarctic mosses (Ditrichum ditrichoideum, Bryum orbiculatifolium, Bucklandiella subcrispipila, Pohlia wahlenbergii and Dicranella hookeri). A photomapping study was undertaken to characterize further the status of the site and monitor changes within it. Increased awareness, co-ordination of activities and a spatial zoning within the site could help mitigate damage from permitted activities. Nevertheless, prioritization of longer term conservation goals over short-term research interests may ultimately be necessary where local human impact cannot be managed by other means.

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.

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.

Thawing the ice: a contemporary solution to Antarctic sovereignty

Polar Record ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 436-447
Author(s):  
Wygene Chong
Keyword(s):  
Primary Reason ◽  
Global Commons ◽  
Governance Framework ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
The Future ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Territorial Claims ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTThe Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) has provided a peaceful framework for governing the continent over many decades, in spite of seven extant territorial claims. However, its method of freezing these claims has been criticised for being short-sighted and ineffective in providing a long-term solution. This paper argues to the contrary. It undertakes a brisk analysis of different categories of alternatives: global commons, absolute sovereignty, restricted sovereignty and shared sovereignty. After dismissing each category for various reasons, it promotes the reform of the existing ATS, in which a long-term vision and modified chairmanship structure provide stronger leadership and more effective implementation. Essentially, it holds that the primary reason there is criticism of the system is because it is not functioning as well as it might be. The paper not only contends that a developed ATS is an achievable aim, but that it could eventually develop into a restricted, shared sovereignty governance framework. That form of governance, which would emerge over time, could be a more durable solution that resolves the competing territorial claims. In this way, the paper charts a potential pathway for the future of Antarctic governance. This path begins, however, with a reformed ATS.

scholarly journals Antarctic environmental planning and management: conclusions from Casey, Australian Antarctic Territory

Polar Record ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 27 (160) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorne K. Kriwoken
Keyword(s):  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Planning ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Environmental Legislation ◽  
Planning And Management ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment ◽  
Environmental Planning And Management

AbstractThe Antarctic environment has undergone significant local environmental damage and degradation, with nations rebuilding, expanding, or developing stations and bases. The Australian Antarctic Division's ten-year (1985–95) A$76.704 million programme of rebuilding and expanding stations in Australian Antarctic Territory is representative of a continent-wide increase in station numbers and impact, increasing station size, human numbers, lengths of roads, buildings, waste material production, and energy requirements. Environmental planning and impact assessment have not been incorporated in official decision-making; human activities at Australian Antarctic Territory stations had serious impacts on the limited ice-free land and local flora and fauna. Casey, are-developed station, is examined with reference to environmental planning and management under Antarctic Treaty obligations and recent Australian environmental legislation. Recommendations include the setting up of an Australian Antarctic Resources Committee responsible inter alia for environmental planning and management, including regional and station management plans and cumulative and environmental impact assessment for all Antarctic operations.

CFC Regulations on Refrigeration Compressors Used in Environmental Test Chambers

1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 27-32
Author(s):  
Brian Hearn
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Montreal Protocol ◽  
Environmental Test ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Antarctic Ozone ◽  
The Antarctic

The earlier discovery of the Antarctic ozone "hole" and current scientific evidence indicate that CFC emissions into the atmosphere deplete the ozone layer and present a long-term threat to the quality of human life. The items of most concern, from an ozone protection standpoint, are the long-lived, fully halogenated compounds—halons, CFCs, and chlorocarbons. Scientific information indicates that most, if not all, of the chlorine or bromine content of these compounds is transported to the stratosphere, where it has the potential to destroy ozone. Furthermore, these compounds remain in the atmosphere for an extended number of years, providing a significant background chlorine concentration. According to DuPont.2 an 85 percent reduction in global CFC emissions from 1986 levels is necessary just to maintain current atmospheric levels of chlorine from these compounds. The refrigerants used within environmental test chambers have been included among those identified as ozone depleting. Specifically, these are CFC-12 and CFC-502. The 1987 Montreal Protocol was revised in June of 1990. Further regulations on CFC products are contained within the Clean Air Bill that is being debated in the Fall of 1990. Restrictions pertaining to CFC-13 are being proposed.

Environmental management on King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

Polar Record ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 27 (163) ◽  
pp. 313-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin M. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
South Shetland Islands ◽  
King George Island ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Environmentally Sensitive Areas ◽  
Environmental Information System ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThis paper proposes management responses to problems perceived in an earlier paper on King George Island (Polar Record 27(162): 193–204, 1991). Available management instruments and barriers to solutions are reviewed, and new management approaches and tools postulated. The category of Antarctic Protected Area (APA) is proposed for areas needing special protection, with sub-designations of Natural, Scientific and Historic Reserves. Multiple-use Planning Areas (MPAs) are endorsed for areas of high use needing local and regional planning, including station environs, but with sub-designations Environmentally Sensitive Areas, Scientific Research Sites and Facilities Areas. Both APAs and MPAs will require management plans: APAs will be accessible only by entry permit. Also recommended are a scientific and logistic register, scheduled meetings among station commanders, development of an internationally coordinated regional scientific strategy, and an environmental information system. To manage tourism a commercial tourism licence system and tourist levy are recommended, with the industry controlled under management plans developed for APAs and MPAs, plus general Treaty provisions. Workload arising from these revisions would necessitate the Committee on Environmental Protection in the forthcoming Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, with a permanent Treaty secretariat. This framework, requiring a multinational approach to management more sophisticated than has so far been achieved under the Antarctic Treaty, would improve and coordinate management throughout Antarctica.

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?

Population estimates of emperor penguins at Amanda Bay, Ingrid Christensen Coast, Antarctica

Polar Record ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Wienecke ◽  
Peter Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Population ◽  
Emperor Penguin ◽  
Emperor Penguins ◽  
History Of ◽  
Penguin Colony ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Made In

ABSTRACTIn 2008, the emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri colony at Amanda Bay, East Antarctica, was designated an Antarctic Specially Protected Area by the 31st Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. It is only the third emperor penguin colony in the Australian Antarctic Territory to receive this status. The colony has been known to exist since 1956 and numerous visits have been made to it, especially by personnel from Australia's Davis station. On a number of occasions, attempts were made to estimate the number of birds in the colony in order to obtain an insight into the size of the breeding population. Here we report on the history of visitation to the colony since the 1950s and examine the quality of information collected with regard to the usefulness of this information in terms of population analyses. We also report the results of the first visit to the Amanda Bay colony made in winter with the specific purpose of estimating the number of birds present and of highlighting the need for long term monitoring programmes to assess the viability of emperor penguins in future.

International Governance of the Antarctic – Participation, Transparency and Legitimacy

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 448-500
Author(s):  
Jill Barrett
Keyword(s):  
The Arctic ◽  
International Governance ◽  
Antarctic Region ◽  
Constituent Part ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
The Relationship

This article explores the principal institutions of international governance of the Antarctic region, their members, and how open they are to new participants. It considers the relationship between the openness of these institutions to new participation and their long-term international legitimacy and efficacy. Taking as its starting point the Antarctic Treaty System, each constituent part is examined for participation, transparency and legitimacy. It applies these criteria to both State and non-State actors and to parties and non-parties. Ultimately it seeks to determine what factors have contributed to its success over five decades in a radically changing world, and what factors might contribute to its future vulnerability. The examination and conclusions might have resonance for what happens in the Arctic.

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