Kiev, Ukraine
MEDIA RELEASE
Antarctic Treaty Parties Duck Tourism Challenges
ATCM[i] XXXI concluded today in Kiev without any agreement on proposed Resolutions addressing the increase of Antarctic
tourism overall and on discouraging construction of hotels in Antarctica.
“ASOC is very disappointed that the Antarctic Treaty governments were unable to reach consensus on even a single step to
reign in rapidly expanding tourism in the Antarctic Treaty Area,” said Ricardo Roura, Coordinator of ASOC’s tourism
campaign. “In spite of many excellent and comprehensive papers covering the growth and diversification of the tourism
industry, and the sinking of the M/V Explorer last November, there was no political will to take the actions needed to
protect human lives and the environment.”
The environmental organizations that are members of ASOC[ii] regard this failure of Consultative Parties to protect the
values of science and environmental protection espoused in the Antarctic Treaty[iii] and its Environmental Protocol[iv]
as warning signs of a serious blockage in the governance system for Antarctica.
Tourism in Antarctica over the past decade has been characterized by steep annual increases, diversification, and
geographic expansion. According to industry statistics, the number of visitors increased to 46,000 thousands in 2007-08.
Of these, more than 30,000 passengers set foot ashore, up from 10,000 a decade earlier. The largest increase in the past
season has been on ships carrying over 500 passengers, which do not conduct landings, with more than 13,000 passengers
traveling in this fashion in 2007-08, up from 6000 the previous year. Tourism is also diversifying, with a growing focus
on activities such as kayaking, diving, skiing and mountain-climbing.
ASOC is very concerned about the rapid increases in maritime traffic in the Antarctic in recent years, particularly
between the months of November and March, largely fuelled by tourism. This has increased the probabilities of shipping
accidents, underscored by the sinking of the Liberian-flagged M/V Explorer in the Antarctic Peninsula off King George
Island on November 23, 2007. No fatalities resulted from this accident, but an unknown amount of fuel was spilled in
the Southern Ocean.[v] This is the most serious of a series of shipping accidents in Antarctica in the past several
years.
“The sinking of the Explorer should be a wake-up call to the Antarctic Treaty Parties,” said James Barnes, ASOC
Executive Director. “There are growing commercial pressures in the Antarctic region, and its environmental protection
regime is under siege. It is past time for the governments to act.”
Environmental groups fear that tourism is becoming entrenched as the main Antarctic activity in terms of scale and
influence, resulting inevitably in the erosion of the intrinsic values of Antarctica and the primary roles of science
and environmental protection in the Antarctic Treaty System.[vi] ASOC believes that the particularly negative forms of
tourism currently emerging, including land-based tourism, should be constrained before their scale is beyond the
capacity of the Antarctic Treaty System to control them.
“Given tourism trends and the sinking of the Explorer we thought that the Parties would react by sending a strong
message to the tourism industry that further growth and diversification is not desirable,” said Roura. “However, in the
current political climate, even non-mandatory Resolutions could not be approved. The governments are failing in their
duty to protect the Antarctic environment.”
There is currently no comprehensive tourism management regime in Antarctica.[vii] Existing tourism instruments do not
yet impose any legal obligations and have not curbed the steep growth trajectory of the industry. The only tourism
Measure approved in recent years would require mandatory insurance and contingency plans for tourism activities in
Antarctica, but it has not yet become effective, and there are even insinuations that some Parties may not ratify this
instrument domestically.[viii]
ends