SCAR provides objective and independent scientific advice to the Antarctic Treaty System and other international bodies such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). SCAR identifies issues emerging from greater scientific understanding of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean region and brings them to the attention of policy makers.
Policy advice
SCAR’s interest in climate change science has increased considerably in the last decade or so, in part as a consequence of growing concern that anthropogenic influence on the carbon cycle is becoming evident from monitoring climate, ice and ocean in the Antarctic region. In addition, it is now clear that a knowledge of the history of the region on time scales from millennia to millions of years is becoming increasingly relevant in assessing future ice and climate behaviour.
SCAR is an official Observer to the UNFCCC and sometimes uses the Observer status of its parent organisation, the International Science Council (ISC), to attend relevant working group or other meetings of the IPCC.
The Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System (SCATS) is the body within the SCAR structure tasked with developing SCAR’s scientific advice to the the Antarctic Treaty System.
SCAR’s Antarctic Environments Portal links Antarctic science and Antarctic policy, by providing easy access to information on a range of scientific issues relevant to Antarctic environmental governance and management.
In 2022, the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (ACCE) report was developed for the 2022 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Berlin, designed to communicate to the Treaty Parties how urgently we need action to mitigate the global impacts of climate change in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
Antarctic Treaty System
The Antarctic Treaty System is the whole complex of arrangements made for the purpose of regulating relations among states in the Antarctic.
The Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System (SCATS)
SCATS is tasked with developing SCAR’s scientific advice to the the Antarctic Treaty System.
Antartic environments portal
The Portal links Antarctic science and Antarctic policy, by providing easy access to information on a range of scientific issues relevant to Antarctic environmental governance and management.
Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (ACCE) Report
A decadal synopsis and recommendations for action, report released at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Berlin 2022.
Wider Policy Activities
SCAR identifies issues emerging from greater scientific understanding of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean region and brings them to the attention of policy makers.