Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseAntarctica has no government of its own and no permanent population. So it cannot be protected by one country's laws. Instead, many countries have signed international agreements. These are the main strategies: the plans and rules. Surveys and guidelines are the techniques: the methods used to carry the plans out.
Remember the threats from the lesson Threats to Antarctica and Their Impacts: mining, climate change, fishing, tourism and past hunting. Each agreement below answers some of them.
Key terms:
Signed by 12 countries and now joined by more than 50. It covers everything south of 60°S. It says Antarctica is used for peaceful purposes only, so there are no military bases, and scientists can share research freely. It also puts disagreements over who owns which part on hold. Nuclear explosions and dumping nuclear waste are banned.
Added to the Treaty to deal with environmental damage. It bans mining and drilling for minerals and oil. It makes Antarctica a natural reserve for peace and science. It also sets rules on waste, on protecting wildlife and on making an EIA before activities start.
Strengths: the Treaty has kept Antarctica free of war, and the Protocol protects it from mining, one of the biggest threats. Weaknesses: the Treaty only works if countries choose to obey it, and there is no police force to make them. Inspections are possible but rare in such a huge area. Neither agreement can stop climate change, because carbon dioxide is released far away from Antarctica.
| Strategy | What it does | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCAMLR (1982) | Sets catch limits for krill and toothfish, so fishing does not take more than the population can replace. It looks at the whole food web, not just the fish being caught. | Limits are based on science and checked each year. | Illegal fishing is hard to spot over a huge ocean. Members must agree before new rules are made. |
| Marine protected areas, e.g. the Ross Sea (2016) | An area of sea where fishing is banned or tightly limited. The Ross Sea is one of the largest in the world, and most of it is no-fishing. | Wildlife can breed and recover in a safe zone. | It covers only part of the ocean. Fish and whales move outside it. It has an end date, so it must be renewed. |
| International Whaling Commission (IWC) | Controls whaling. Commercial whaling has been banned since 1986, and the Southern Ocean is a whale sanctuary. | Some whale populations have started to recover. | Some countries objected or hunt under other rules. It cannot fine anyone. |
IAATO is the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Its members agree to limit the number of people who land at one time (no more than 100 at a landing site) and to keep a safe distance from wildlife. Visitors must clean their boots and clothes to stop seeds and germs arriving. Strength: it is quick and practical. Weakness: IAATO's own rules are voluntary and only apply to its members, so other operators can be harder to control.
Anyone planning a research station, a new tourist route or a big expedition has to assess the likely damage first. The plan can be changed or stopped. Strength: problems are found before harm is done. Weakness: an assessment only predicts. Damage that builds up from many small visits can be missed.
For Antarctica, sustainable means keeping the ecosystem healthy and able to recover, while still allowing science and a limited amount of tourism and fishing. The agreements try to do this in three ways: banning the most damaging activities (mining), limiting others (fishing and landings) and checking plans before they start (EIAs).
The bigger weakness is that no agreement made for Antarctica can solve climate change alone. That needs action by every country, covered in the lessons Managing Climate Change: Agreements and Techniques and Mitigation or Adaptation: Evaluating Responses. Overall, the agreements work well for local threats but are weaker against global ones.
Fig. 1.1 shows made-up data for a toothfish fishery in the Southern Ocean.
| Year | Catch limit (tonnes) | Fish caught (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3,000 | 2,900 |
| 2020 | 2,500 | 2,700 |
Fig. 1.1
(a) State what the letters CCAMLR stand for in the name of the body that sets catch limits. [1 mark]
(b) Calculate by how much the catch in 2020 was above the limit. [1 mark]
(c) Explain why an international agreement is needed to protect Antarctica. [3 marks]
(d) Evaluate the success of strategies used to protect the Antarctic ecosystem. [6 marks]
(a) Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (1).
(b) 2,700 - 2,500 = 200 tonnes (1).
(c) No single country has the right to rule Antarctica, so no one government can make laws for it (1). Fish, whales and ships cross national borders (1). Countries must agree together so that everyone follows the same rules (1).
(d) Level 3 (5-6 marks): a balanced evaluation with strengths, weaknesses and a supported conclusion. Level 2 (3-4 marks): some explained strengths or weaknesses. Level 1 (1-2 marks): simple statements. A Level 3 answer could say: The Madrid Protocol bans mining, so one of the main threats is stopped (1). CCAMLR sets catch limits and the Ross Sea marine protected area gives wildlife a safe place to recover (1). IAATO guidelines limit landings and boot cleaning cuts the risk of invasive species (1). However, there is no police force, so illegal fishing is hard to catch and IAATO rules are voluntary (1). None of the agreements can stop climate change, which is caused by emissions all over the world (1). Overall, the strategies are fairly successful against local threats such as mining and overfishing, but they are less successful against climate change, so protection is only partly sustainable (1).
In an "Evaluate" question, give at least one strength and one weakness for each strategy you choose, then finish with an overall judgement about how successful they are.