OUR ANTARCTIC TERRITORIES
Protecting the Antarctic environment
Australia is one of 12 original parties to the Antarctic Treaty, which came into force in 1961. Today there are 45 nations as part of this Treaty. Australia claims 42 per cent of Antarctica and has established four permanent stations: Casey, Davis and Mawson on the Antarctic continent (located in eastern Antarctica) and Macquarie Station in the sub-Antarctic.
The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is responsible for all scientific research in Australia’s region of Antarctica. Not all research is undertaken by the AAD as there is significant collaboration between the AAD and research institutes from around Australia and the world. Up to 300 personnel travel south with the Australian Antarctic Division for the summer season from September to March. This includes scientists and support personnel. This number reduces to around 80 scientists and support personnel over winter
As a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol on Environmental Protection, and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Australia is committed to protecting the Antarctic environment, both in the activities it undertakes and in international fora. In 2004-05 the Government will spend $88.6 million on the Antarctic.
Australia strives to achieve this goal through a range of activities, including developing ways to minimise environmental impacts, remediating past work sites, undertaking research to ensure that environmental and fisheries management is based on sound scientific principles, and by pursuing environmental protection measures in international fora.
Australia is leading Antarctic nations in efforts to clean up Antarctic waste disposal sites and abandoned work sites. In the 2003-2004 summer season over 1000 tonnes of waste were removed from the old Thala Valley tip site at Casey station. Innovative remediation technologies for cold regions were developed and applied to ensure the clean-up operation did not cause additional environmental impacts. Comprehensive environmental monitoring was used to confirm that no additional adverse environmental impacts occurred.
An Environmental Management System to ISO 14001 standard was implemented in 2003. Improvements made since then have drawn attention to the growing risk of introduction of alien species to the Antarctic and Heard Island Territories, and have led to tighter quarantine procedures.
Australia is making its Antarctic operations more environmentally friendly through the introduction of cost-effective renewable energy sources. The installation of wind turbines at Mawson Station is the first serious attempt by any nation to obtain a significant electricity supply via wind generation in Antarctica. The first two wind turbines were installed at Mawson Station in March 2003. Fuel savings of approximately 27 per cent have been achieved over their first year of operation – a total saving of around 159 000 litres of fuel, which would have a purchase price of around $97,000. Wind turbines have enabled a significant reduction in the use of a fossil fuel and in environmental impacts arising from transporting and storing the fuel at Mawson.
In February 2004 additional electric heating capacity was installed at Mawson, which with sophisticated control software, will provide additional reliability for the system. The Australian Antarctic Division conducted an expedition to the Heard Island and McDonald Islands region in 2003-2004, which will yield information essential to the development of an effective management plan for the Commonwealth marine reserve.
Building on recent efforts, further conservation works on Mawson’s Huts at Cape Denison, the site of the historic Australasian Antarctic Expedition, are being planned for 2004-2005.
Enhancing Australia’s influence in the Antarctic Treaty System
Australia takes a lead role in the Antarctic Treaty System.
Australia is pursuing an improved international management framework for tourism and other non-government activities in Antarctica to ensure that such activities occur in a manner consistent with the protection of the environment and in harmony with scientific research activities.
Australia is continuing to work with parties to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol) to develop rules on liability for environmental damage in Antarctica linked to an agreed system of response action in the case of environmental emergencies.
Australia and New Zealand are leading work within the Antarctic Treaty’s Committee on Environmental Protection to develop a State of the Antarctic Environment Reporting mechanism.
Combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
Australia is taking strong measures, domestically and internationally, to combat illegal fishing for Patagonian Toothfish. Australia continues to play a leading role in the Commission for the Conservation of the Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and to influence decisions to protect Antarctic marine living resources by developing initiatives for consideration at Commission meetings, by complying with the requirements of the Commission and by cooperating with other countries.
These efforts focus on initiatives to combat illegal fishing and protect high seas biodiversity in the Southern Ocean. Australia is working with other key Commission Members to ensure the success of a centralised Vessel Monitoring System trial and will seek full implementation of the system at the next Commission meeting in 2004.
Australia is continuing to seek improvements to the Catch Documentation Scheme, including developing standard verification and validation procedures and an electronic based system, as well as greater implementation of the Scheme by other nations that are not parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
The Antarctic airlink
Australia is continuing to develop a low-impact Antarctic air transport system to support our Antarctic Programme. Successful trial preparations were carried out for a snow capped ice runway near Casey Station during the summers of 2002-2003 and 2003-2004, and two ski-equipped CASA-212 aircraft will operate intra-continental services from October 2004.
Undertaking scientific work of environmental and economic significance
Antarctic research is producing information of significance in many areas, including the environment and the global climate system. Australia is also investigating the interaction of natural variability of the Southern Ocean with the ocean’s biota, to improve understanding of commercially important marine species and their sustainable harvesting, and climate change.
Research into how pollutants from abandoned Antarctic tip sites interact with local marine flora and fauna has led to new ways to contain and treat leaching materials. Such technology and research is now being shared with other nations interested in cold-climate site remediation.
Studies at Davis station show that the middle atmosphere, the coldest region of the Earth’s atmosphere, is cooling significantly. Research into causes suggests that greenhouse gases play a major part.
Understanding the role of Antarctica in the global climate system
Antarctica plays an important role in the global climate system because of its low temperatures, circumpolar ocean and immense size. The dynamic interactions between the water, ice, and atmosphere in the region drive many of the world’s ocean currents and climate systems, including Australia’s weather. Australia is conducting research into these interactions to obtain a better understanding of the role of the Antarctic in global climate systems and to aid in climate prediction.
A significant initiative was the establishment in Hobart of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in July 2003 with funding of $23.5 million over seven years, including $4.3 million in 2004-05, supplemented by the cash and in-kind contributions of the Centre’s partner organisations. Of these, the Australian Antarctic Division is the largest contributor to the Centre. The focus of the Centre’s work is to understand natural variability in the Southern Ocean and estimate the influence of variability of the ocean’s biota. Other key areas of research include investigation of the role of the high latitude oceans in future sea-level rise, and the capacity of the Southern Ocean to act as a sink for carbon dioxide.