Protection of the Antarctic Since 1961 the Antarctic including its surrounding waters south of 60 degrees Southern latitude is subject to a special conservation regime under the Antarctic Treaty which provides for peaceful uses only and grants a special status to scientific research. Since the Protocol of Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty of October 1991 and the Act Implementing the Protocol of Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty of September 1994 came into force in 1998, the protection of the Antarctic environment has been of high priority. Whether scientific research, tourism and journalistic activities or any kind of logistics – all activities must be environmentally compatible and are subjected to authorisation. In Germany, UBA is the competent authority and it participates, at an international level, in the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and in its Committee for Environmental Protection to actively contribute to the development of environmental protection in the Antarctic.
and four huts – as an Antarctic Specially Managed Area in the future. One of the major problems in the Antarctic is a sharp rise in tourism over recent decades. In the 2009/2010 season alone, 21,600 tourists visited the Antarctic or its offshore islands. Most Antarctic tourists come from the United States, followed by Germany and Great Britain. Cruise tourism to endangered and frequently-visited regions is regulated by “Visitor Site Guidelines” adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties. Individual tourism, however, which affects new and so far pristine areas on the continent in the form of individually organised journeys such as skiing, mountaineering, climbing and mountain biking, gives cause for concern. UBA has summarised the essential rules of behaviour in “Visitor Guidelines for the Antarctic” and intends to develop a national strategy for sustainable tourism.
UBA supports the designation of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas. The Fildes peninsula with its comparatively large biodiversity is one such area being used intensively by scientific and logistic activities and, increasingly, by rising tourism. Waste dumping sites, serious damage to sensitive vegetation and landscape destruction are the result. Since 2006, Germany has pursued the proposal to designate this region – an area with five stations owned by different nations
Underwater noise has increased substantially throughout the last decades in the world’s oceans. Whales and seals are in particular subject to risks from underwater noise. This is still a controversial issue of debate among the different players. High sound levels can result in injury or significant biological disturbances at distances of several miles from the acoustic source. In a research project commissioned by UBA and performed by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Foundation (the former
24
What Matters 2011