Tourist landings in Antarctica and the environemental impact assessment process according to the Madrid Protocol: The case of Halfmoon (media luna) Island

Abstract

Although tourism is one of the most intensive activities in the area of the Antarctic Treaty, it is mostly carried out without previous environmental impact assessments. The few assessmentss made sofar do not comply with the basic requirements of Annex I of the Protocol on Environmental Protection. On the basis of four seasons of systematic observations at one of the most frequently visited sites, Halfmoon Island in the South Shetlands, it was found that the numbers of ships and tourists were considerably high. Moreover, tourist distribution on the small island was irregular both in time and numbers, brought by a number of operators of different nationalities, often on ships flying flags of third parties. In these conditions the mooring and landing areas, and the sites visited on land, become areas especially exposed to the environmental impacts of commercial tourism. In order to apply the EIA process according to Annex I of the Protocol to tourist activities such as those observed, some relevant practical requirements are found to be necessary. Such conditions are: coordination between operators and parties, the need for the timely collection of all logistic information, the need for scientific information on the local environment, the special consideration of the spatial aspects of tourism and of its impacts, the need for special consideration to be given also to its temporal and quantitative aspects, the consideration of possible cumulative and second-order effects, and the likely need for monitoring the local environmental conditions in the future. These basic requirements, at least, need to be considered by tourist operators and by the Parties if tourism in the Antarctic is to be effectively evaluated for its environmental consequences according to the Treaty's provisions.