Antarctic Treaty Meeting Urged to StepUp Climate Change Role
Antarctic Treaty Meeting Urged to Step Up Climate Change Role
Sofia, June 1 2015:- As the 2015 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) opens today in the Bulgarian capital, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) urged the ATCM to take action to promote the crucial importance of climate-related Antarctic research and its role in the Earth’s interconnected climate systems to the climate change community, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in the run up this year’s COP21 climate summit in Paris.
ASOC is also calling on the ATCM, which runs until June 10th, to take all possible actions to address climate change taking place within the Antarctic region, including through focused dialogue within the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), particularly in respect to the important role of a healthy Southern Ocean ecosystem in mitigating (reducing) carbon dioxide that would otherwise exacerbate climate change, and the development of a network of protected areas both on land and at sea.
In its role as the representative of global environmental non-governmental groups with an interested in Antarctica, ASOC will present six papers at this year’s ATCM, covering key Antarctic issues such as climate change, protected areas, tourism and shipping:
The
Antarctic Treaty System, Climate Change and Strengthened
Scientific Interface with Relevant Bodies of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
This ASOC paper outlines the important role of
the Antarctic Treaty System in promoting the relevance of
climate-related Antarctic research to the global climate
change community, and of taking appropriate management
actions in Antarctica, where possible, to address the
effects of climate change.
Climate Change
2015: A Report Card
ASOC’s annual Climate
Change Report Card summarizes up-to-date scientific findings
on climate change in the Antarctic, including environmental
changes such as temperature, ice sheets and glaciers, sea
ice, ocean acidification, and species impacts. This year we
also introduce a new category of “blue carbon”
reflecting the uptake of carbon by krill.
Expanding Antarctica’s Protected Areas System
To date over 70 Antarctic Specially Protected
Areas (ASPAs) have been designated by the Antarctic Treaty
System (ATS), but recent analysis has found these do not
fulfill the terms of the Protocol. In this paper, ASOC
discusses how Antarctica Protected Areas System (ATCP) can
counter this by increasing the size and number of ASPAs,
with a focus on achieving representation of all known
Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions (ACBRs) and
designating inviolate areas, wilderness areas, and areas of
interest to science.
Antarctic Tourism and
Protected Areas
This document discusses the
interface between protected areas, in a broad sense, and the
regulation and management of tourism. ASOC also discusses
how area protection may be used with respect to potential
vectors of tourism expansion, particularly the use of
airstrips and dedicated land based tourism facilities.
Cumulative Impact Assessment
This
paper briefly reviews discussions on cumulative impact
assessment, with particular reference to shipborne and land
based tourism, the establishment and operation of research
stations, concepts of footprint and wilderness, and
multi-year strategic planning.
Polar Code in
Antarctica: Next steps for Vessel Management in the Southern
Ocean
This paper summarizes a few new
requirements of the Code and highlights some areas, which
ASOC believes should have received further consideration
during the IMO’s Part II of the Polar Code, which was
finalized in May 2015.
Accessing the
papers:
ASOC papers for this ATCM, plus those
submitted to previous meetings are available here:
http://www.asoc.org/component/content/article/379#sofia
ASOC’s
recent commentary on the adoption of Part II of the Polar
Code is available here:
http://www.asoc.org/explore/latest-news/1473-new-polar-code-fails-to-protect-antarctic-waters
About ASOC:
Founded in 1978, ASOC is
the only non-governmental organization working full time to
preserve the Antarctic continent and its surrounding
Southern Ocean. A coalition of over 30 NGOs interested in
Antarctic environmental protection, ASOC represents the
environmental community at Antarctic governance meetings,
such as the ATCM and CCAMLR and works to promote important
Antarctic conservation goals. Read more on asoc.org.
ENDS