RECOMMENDATIONS
ADOPTED AT THE SEVENTH ANTARCTIC TREATY CONSULTATIVE MEETING
(Wellington, 30.X.1972 - 10.XI.1972)
RECOMMENDATION VII-1
MAN'S IMPACT ON THE ANTARCTIC ENVIRONMENT
The Representatives,
Recalling Recommendations III-VIII and VI-4;
Noting the information provided by the Consultative Parties about the implementation of the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora;
Considering that there is a need to strengthen the protection of the Antarctic environment;
Recommend to their Governments that:
1. They take note of the responses by SCAR to paragraph 1 of Recommendation VI-4 and that they discuss these responses in detail at the Eighth Consultative Meeting;
2. They consider adopting as far as feasible and practicable, and subject to other international arrangements and advice, these responses of SCAR as voluntary guidelines for the conduct of their expeditions and stations;
3. They encourage SCAR, through their national committees, to continue its interest in this matter.
RECOMMENDATION VII-2
REVIEW OF SPECIALLY PROTECTED AREAS
The Representatives,
Recalling:
(1) that the purpose of Specially Protected Areas is to preserve, in accordance with the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora, the natural ecological systems of areas of outstanding scientific interest;
(2) that Recommendation VI-8 has notably increased the protection afforded to Specially Protected Areas by prohibiting entry into them except in accordance with a permit;
Recognising that the existing Specially Protected Areas were designated under less strict provisions regarding entry;
Conscious of the need to review the existing Specially Protected Areas in the light of experience and the increased degree of protection they have been afforded;
Recalling Recommendation III-X which encouraged SCAR to continue its interest in and prepare reports from time to time on the conservation of Antarctic fauna and flora;
Noting the opinion of SCAR, expressed in the report produced at its Twelfth Meeting on the "Purposes and Designation of Special Areas", that the existing Specially Protected Areas are not fully representative of the major Antarctic land and freshwater ecological systems and that some of these ecological systems are over-represented in the series so far designated;
Recommend to their Governments that:
1. In due course they include in the series of Specially Protected Areas listed in Annex A of the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora:
(a) representative examples of the major Antarctic land and freshwater ecological systems;
(b) areas with unique complexes of species;
(c) areas which are the type locality or only known habitat of any plant or invertebrate species;
(d) areas which contain specially interesting breeding colonies of birds or mammals;
(e) areas which should be kept inviolate so that in the future they may be used for purposes of comparison with localities that have been disturbed by man;
2. They invite SCAR, through their National Committees, to review in the light of the criteria set out in paragraph 1 the existing Specially Protected Areas, and to make recommendations about:
(a) the desirability of retaining each Area;
(b) the desirability of redefining the limits of each Area retained;
(c) creating such additional Areas as may be considered desirable;
3. The number of Specially Protected Areas should be kept to the minimum that will meet the criteria set out in paragraph 1;
4. The size of each Specially Protected Area should be the minimum required to serve the purpose for which the Area has been designated.
RECOMMENDATION VII-3
SITES OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC INTEREST
The Representatives,
Recognising that:
(1) scientific investigations may be jeopardised by accidental or wilful interference;
(2) sites where such investigations are proceeding may require a measure of protection;
(3) because of the continuing scientific investigations in them, certain localities of botanical or zoological interest are not suitable for designation as Specially Protected Areas under the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora;
(4) sites of non-biological interest cannot be designated as Specially Protected Areas;
Considering that the application of individual management plans regulating access and use for a specified period to such sites, which might be called Sites of Special Scientific Interest, would enable investigations at these sites to be carried out without interference;
Recommend to their Governments that:
1. They invite SCAR, through their National Committees, to consider this matter further and make suggestions for the designation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (together with a proposed management plan for each site);
2. They study the subject further with a view to its inclusion on the Agenda of the Eighth Consultative Meeting.
RECOMMENDATION VII-4
EFFECTS OF TOURISTS AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL EXPEDITIONS
IN THE ANTARCTIC TREATY AREA
The Representatives,
Noting the increase in the Antarctic Treaty Area in the number of visitors who are not sponsored by Consultative Parties.
Considering that both Governments and such visitors would benefit from having available to them an agreed statement:
(a) of accepted practices in the Treaty Area including, inter alia, the need for self sufficiency and prior notification of intended arrival at a station, which such visitors would be expected to follow (to which could be appended the particular conditions imposed by each government for a visit to any one of its stations); and
(b) of the relevant provisions of the Antarctic Treaty and of the Recommendations made under it;
Recalling Recommendations VI-7 and VI-11 concerning the possible harmful effects of such visitors on scientific programmes and on the Antarctic environment;
Convinced of the need to avoid unnecessary interference with natural ecological systems which are not sufficiently understood and continue to be the subject of research;
Conscious that the Treaty Area contains many unique features of historical, scenic and general scientific interest;
Recommend to their Governments that:
1. They keep under review, in the light of existing Recommendations, the effects in the Treaty Area of tourists and other visitors who are not sponsored by Consultative Parties;
2. They consider drawing up at the Eighth Consultative Meeting a statement of those accepted practices and relevant provisions about which all visitors to the Treaty Area should be aware;
3. They consult each other well in advance about the possibility of designating at the Eighth Consultative Meeting an adequate number of areas of interest to which tourists could be encouraged to go, and about the criteria to be used to determine such areas;
4. They use their best efforts to ensure that the provisions of the Treaty and subsequent recommendations relating to the conservation of fauna and flora are applied in practice to all visitors who are not sponsored by Consultative Parties, as well as to tourists.
RECOMMENDATION VII-5
IMPORTATION OF LABORATORY ANIMALS AND PLANTS
The Representatives,
Considering:
(1) that harmful interference with the natural ecological system may be caused by micro-organisms introduced by man for experimental purposes;
(2) Article IX of the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora;
Recommend to their Governments that the following be added to the end of paragraph (c) of Annex C, Importation of Animals and Plants, of the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora;
"including viruses, bacteria, yeasts and fungi".
RECOMMENDATION VII-6
ANTARCTIC RESOURCES-EFFECTS OF MINERAL EXPLORATION
The Representatives,
Recalling the provisions and principles of the Antarctic Treaty;
Reaffirming that it is in the interest of all mankind that the Antarctic Treaty Area shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord;
Acknowledging that the Antarctic Treaty places a special responsibility upon the Contracting Parties to exert appropriate efforts, consistent with the Charter of the United Nations, to the end that no one engages in any activity in the Antarctic Treaty Area contrary to the principles or purposes of the Treaty;
Noting the technological developments in polar mineral exploration and the increasing interest in the possibility of there being exploitable minerals in the Antarctic Treaty Area;
Noting that there is a need for further study and deliberation amongst the Consultative Parties;
Recognising that mineral exploration is likely to raise problems of an environmental nature and that the Consultative Parties should assume responsibility for the protection of the environment and the wise use of resources;
Conscious of the special situation in the Antarctic arising from the particular regime of the Antarctic Treaty and the Recommendations adopted under it;
Recommend to their Governments that the subject "Antarctic Resources-Effects of Mineral Exploration" be carefully studied and included on the Agenda of the Eighth Consultative Meeting.
RECOMMENDATION VII-7
ANTARCTIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The Representatives,
Considering the contribution to the study of Antarctic radio propagation and the ionosphere made at the SCAR Symposium on "Scientific and Technical Problems Affecting Antarctic Telecommunications" held in Sandefjord, Norway, in May 1972, and the Interim Report of the SCAR Group of Specialists (Revised 25 August 1972);
Recognising the need for improving, as far as practicable, the transmission of information between stations within the Antarctic Treaty Area and between those stations and the rest of the world;
Bearing in mind that difficulties may arise in Antarctic communications if new methods of transmission are accepted by Consultative Parties without due regard to the principle of compatibility both between new systems and between new and existing systems;
Recommend to their Governments that:
1. Their offices administering Antarctic programmes take into account the information presented at the SCAR Symposium when considering new means of improving Antarctic communications; techniques discussed at the Symposium and brought to the attention of Representatives by SCAR and others included communication satellites, VHF low power scatter systems, oblique ionospheric sounding, coding and error correcting devices and the wider use of ionospheric prediction services, especially with regard to short-term advice on impending disturbances;
2. Their offices administering Antarctic programmes be encouraged to exchange information about changes contemplated in types of equipment or methods in order to improve, where practicable, compatibility between Antarctic networks.
RECOMMENDATION VII-8
CO-OPERATION IN TRANSPORT
The Representatives,
Recognising that the relative inaccessability of many regions of the Antarctic Treaty Area creates special transport problems;
Acknowledging the benefits to be derived from international co-operation in scientific investigations in that Area;
Recommend to their Governments that:
1. They accept the principle of using, where appropriate, common transport facilities by sea and by air for scientific and other personnel proceeding with their equipment to and from Antarctic stations;
2. They encourage bilateral or multilateral consultations between Contracting Parties in order to establish when arrangements for such common use of transport facilities would be mutually convenient and practicable;
3. The cost of the use of any common transport facilities should be arranged by agreement between the Contracting Parties concerned, either by direct payment, by reciprocation in kind, or by other mutually agreed means.
RECOMMENDATION VII-9
HISTORIC MONUMENTS
The Representatives,
Recalling Recommendations I-IX, V-4, and VI-14;
Recommend to their Governments that they approve the annexed "List of Historic Monuments Identified and Described by the Proposing Government or Governments".
Annex
to Recommendation VII-9
LIST
OF HISTORIC MONUMENTS IDENTIFIED AND DESCRIBED
BY THE PROPOSING GOVERNMENT OR GOVERNMENTS*
____________________________
*The Consultative Meeting does not approve or disapprove the place names appearing in the texts of this List in the different languages.
1. Flag mast erected in December 1965 at the South Geographical Pole by the First Argentine Overland Polar Expedition.
2. Rock cairn and plaques at Syowa Station (Lat. 69°00'S, Long. 39°35'E.) in memory of Shin Fukushima, a member of the 4th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition, who died in October 1960 while performing official duties. The cairn was erected on 11 January 1961 by his colleagues. Some of his ashes repose in the cairn.
3. Rock cairn and plaque on Proclamation Island, Enderby Land, erected in January 1930 by Sir Douglas Mawson. (Lat. 65°51'S, Long. 53°41'E.) The cairn and plaque commemorate the landing on Proclamation Island of Sir Douglas Mawson with a party from the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition of 1929 - 31.
4. Station building to which a bust of V.I. Lenin is fixed, together with a plaque in memory of the conquest of the Pole of Inaccessibility by Soviet Antarctic explorers in 1958. (Lat. 83°06'S, Long. 54°58'E.)
5. Rock cairn and plaque at Cape Bruce, Mac. Robertson Land, erected in February 1931 by Sir Douglas Mawson. (Lat. 67°25'S, Long. 60°47'E.) The cairn and plaque commemorate the landing on Cape Bruce of Sir Douglas Mawson with a party from the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition of 1929 - 31.
6. Rock cairn at Walkabout Rocks, Vestfold Hills, Princess Elizabeth Land, erected in 1939 by Sir Hubert Wilkins. (Lat. 68°22'S, Long. 78°33'E.) The cairn houses a canister containing a record of his visit.
7. Stone with inscribed plaque, erected at Mirny Observatory, Mabus Point, in memory of driver-mechanic Ivan Khmara who perished on fast ice in the performance of official duties in 1956. (Lat. 66°33'S, Long. 93°01'E.)
8. Metal monument-sledge at Mirny Observatory, Mabus Point, with plaque in memory of driver-mechanic Anatoly Shcheglov who perished