Oiled wildlife response for Antarctica: Practical and realistic solutions

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 1559-1568
Author(s):  
Michael Short
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Contingency Plans ◽  
Antarctic Marine ◽  
Station Base ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment

ABSTRACT Through the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection all of the Antarctic member nations are required to have in place contingency plans for oil spills including oiled wildlife response. The current risks for marine pollution incidents to the Antarctic environment include refuelling activities associated with Antarctic stations/bases; routine station/base activities; and shipping associated with stations/bases, tourism, commercial fishing and whaling. Between 1981 and 2011 there have been reported 33 spills or near spill incidents associated with the Antarctic marine environment. Wildlife at risk from oil spills include seabirds (flying birds and penguins), pinnipeds and cetaceans. Antarctic and polar environments both provide a number of logistical and practical complications given their climatic and geographic character. The key elements for response actions for Antarctic wildlife identified are divided amongst primary, secondary and tertiary oiled wildlife response activities. Primary activities identified include focussing containment and clean up efforts to protecting wildlife as a priority using tools such as sensitivity mapping, stochastic and real time modelling. Secondary activities specific to individual wildlife groups were identified and included specialised hazing, exclusion and pre-emptive capture mechanisms focussed to the Antarctic environment. Tertiary activities are considered with regards to the real capacity of Antarctic stations to respond, take and rehabilitate oiled wildlife given the Antarctic environment and its limitations. The paper identifies realistic mechanisms and systems considering the climatic, logistical and practical issues of the Antarctic environment. Although specific to Antarctic bases the paper outcomes can be equally applied to other polar environments.

New Trends in the Protection of the Antarctic Environment: The 1991 Madrid Protocol

1992 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. N. Blay
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Resource ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment

In June 1991, the Antarctic Treaty states, meeting in Madrid, Spain, approved the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol). The Protocol was adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties and opened for signature on October 4, 1991. Negotiated over a three-year period, the Protocol, together with its annexes, is the most comprehensive multilateral document ever adopted on the international protection of the environment. It promises to be a significant blueprint for preserving the Antarctic. An ironic feature of the Protocol is that, while it bans mining in Antarctica, it had its origins in the 1988 Convention for the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA), which permitted mining.

The 1991 UN session: the environmental protocol fails to satisfy the Antarctic Treaty System's critics

Polar Record ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (167) ◽  
pp. 307-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Beck
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment

ABSTRACT1991 saw the ninth successive United Nations (UN) discussion on the ‘Question of Antarctica.’ The adoption of two more resolutions critical of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), including South African participation therein, reaffirmed the unchanging nature of the UN episode and the lack of consensus on the management of Antarctica. Key developments affecting Antarctica continue to occur away from New York: during 1990—91 the negotiations conducted at Vifia del Mar and Madrid for the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (PREP) and the measures agreed at the Bonn Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting proved the point. The critics of the ATS were appeased by neither PREP and its mining prohibition nor the recent dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa.Two UN reports were published on the state of the Antarctic environment as well as the proposed establishment of a UNsponsored research station in Antarctica. One resolution adopted in December 1991 called for annual UN reports on the Antarctic environment, although fiscal and other considerations meant that the research station proposal was effectively shelved. Another resolution urged South African exclusion from ATS meetings. The tenth annual UN discussion on Antarctica is scheduled for the close of 1992. There exists growing evidence that the critical campaign is losing momentum, although it seems premature to anticipate Antarctica's imminent demise as an UN agenda topic.

The Greening of Antarctica

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Antonello
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Scientific Committee ◽  
Environmental Agreements ◽  
Human Relationship ◽  
Conceptual Changes ◽  
Antarctic Marine ◽  
Antarctic Seals ◽  
Antarctic Research ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic

The Greening of Antarctica investigates the development of an international regime of environmental protection and management for Antarctica between the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 and the signing of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 1980. During those two decades the parties to the Antarctic Treaty and an international community of scientists surrounding the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research reimagined Antarctica from being a cold, sterile, and abiotic wilderness into a fragile and extensive regional ecosystem. This book investigates this change by analyzing the negotiations and developments surrounding four environmental agreements: the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora in 1964, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals in 1972, a voluntary restraint resolution on Antarctic mining in 1977, and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 1980. The development of the Antarctic Treaty and the related conceptual changes occurred because states and scientists were continually searching for authority and power within various realms. All actors were balancing their search for power and authority with the desire to maintain stability and peace in the region. In this international and diplomatic context, the actors were not simply trying to keep relations between themselves orderly; they were also ordering the human relationship with the environment through treaties.

Australian and Canadian initiatives in polar marine environmental protection: a comparative review

Polar Record ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 34 (191) ◽  
pp. 305-316
Author(s):  
Donald R. Rothwell
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Marine Environmental Protection ◽  
Comparative Review ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Marine Environmental

AbstractIncreasing attention has been given to the protection of the polar marine environment throughout the 1990s. In the case of the Antarctic Treaty System, in addition to a number of recommendations and measures adopted at Antarctic Treaty Meetings, the 1991 Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty contains a number of measures that will enhance marine environmental protection in the Southern Ocean. In the case of the Arctic, the 1991 Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy identified marine pollution as being one of the major environmental issues in the Arctic, and a number of initiatives have since been developed to encourage the Arctic states to deal with the problem collectively and individually. However, while the collective responses of the polar states have been helpful in giving prominence to the importance of marine environmental protection in polar waters, it is the coastal states of the polar regions that need to take responsibility to give effect to these initiatives. Australia and Canada are two of the most prominent polar states in Antarctica and the Arctic, respectively. Both have large maritime claims and have also developed a range of domestic legal and policy responses to enhance marine environmental protection in the polar regions. A review is undertaken of the respective global and regional marine environmental protection regimes that apply in the polar regions, followed by a comparative analysis of the Australian and Canadian initiatives.

The Antarctic Committee for Environmental Protection: past, present, and future

Polar Record ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodolfo Andrés Sánchez ◽  
Ewan McIvor
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Future Scenarios ◽  
New Era ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Antarctic Environment

ABSTRACTThe Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) was established under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty to advise the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) on matters relating to protection of the Antarctic environment. After almost a decade of work, the committee has consolidated itself as a highly relevant and important component of the Antarctic Treaty system. Through a detailed analysis of meeting reports, as well as first-hand information and experience, this study describes the activities of the CEP during its first nine years of operation, provides likely explanations for some trends observed and proposes future scenarios by highlighting major challenges and opportunities. In particular, the instigation of strategic planning shows potential for launching a new era of CEP activities focused on the environmental issues requiring the greatest attention. This overview will assist readers to understand the role of the CEP as the main environmental advisor to the ATCM, and the reasons for the Antarctic Treaty parties to support the Committee's work to foster a spirit of cooperation as a prerequisite for continuing protection of the Antarctic environment.

scholarly journals “Logrolling” in Antarctic governance: Limits and opportunities

Polar Record ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey McGee ◽  
Bruno Arpi ◽  
Andrew Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
International Governance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Current Case ◽  
Antarctic Marine ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
Kunlun Station ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) is considered a successful example of international governance as it has managed tensions over sovereignty claims, avoided militarisation and dealt with marine resources and environmental protection. Recently, China’s influence and assertiveness in many international institutions have significantly grown. What effect this shift in the international politics will have upon Antarctic governance remains to be seen. However, to further thinking on this issue we explore two current case studies that reveal pressure points within the ATS. First, in the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Australia has proposed marine protected areas off East Antarctica, to which China and several other states have objected. Second, in the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, China has proposed special management arrangements for the area around the “Kunlun” station, to which Australia and several other states have objected. Negotiation theory suggests “logrolling” (i.e. trade of mutual decision-making support across issue areas) can be an effective strategy to avoid diplomatic deadlocks. We therefore consider the merits of a logrolling strategy for the above issues. We find that while a logrolling strategy in the ATS might facilitate short-term diplomatic success, it would carry significant risks, including the weakening of existing norms.

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