Documents

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

An overview of SCAR Papers submitted to ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

Working Paper

WP004: Future Antarctic Science Challenges

Submitted: 06/04/2017

Summary:

The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science charged with the initiation and international coordination of Antarctic and Southern Ocean research beneficial to global society. SCAR’s Strategic Plan 2017-2022 continues to identify the delivery of independent scientific advice to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings as one of its key objectives. During discussions of Future Antarctic Science Challenges and how these might be prioritised, SCAR, as the leading organization that promotes, facilitates, and delivers research and evidence-based policy advice on globally significant issues in, from and about Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, stands ready to assist the ATCM.

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

Working Paper

WP013: Antarctica and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 (with Monaco and Belgium)

Submitted: 05/04/2017

Summary:

The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011 to 2020 and its associated Aichi Biodiversity Targets were developed under the aegis of the Convention on Biological Diversity to provide an overarching global framework for the assessment and protection of biodiversity. Antarctica and the Southern Ocean have, to date, not been adequately represented in associated global biodiversity assessments. In June 2015, SCAR, the government of the Principality of Monaco, and several others, held a meeting of experts to assess Antarctic and Southern Ocean biodiversity and its conservation status in the context of the Strategic Plan and Aichi Targets. The outcomes of this assessment have now been made fully available. The evidence suggests that in many cases Antarctic and Southern Ocean biodiversity conservation is ahead of global trends. No case of anthropogenic extinction has yet been recorded from the region, the impacts of invasive alien species are being well addressed, and local pollution has seen significant declines. By contrast, in other areas, biodiversity conservation is lagging global trends – in protected area establishment and management, and in the regulation of bioprospecting. This paper provides access to and a summary of the outcomes of the Monaco Assessment and recommendations emerging from it.

Attachment: Antarctica and the Stategic Plan for Biodiversity (ATT011)

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

Working Paper

WP015: The SCAR Antarctic Science Horizon Scan & the COMNAP Antarctic Roadmap Challenges Projects (with COMNAP)

Submitted: 05/04/2017

Background:

In recognition of the global importance of Antarctic research, the international community came together in an unprecedented effort to define the highest-priority scientific questions that can be uniquely addressed by studying the Antarctic Treaty region. In addition, the community assessed what it would take to enable the research necessary to realise the promise of Antarctic science at the dawn of the twenty-first century. The initial step was the first SCAR Antarctic and Southern Ocean Science Horizon Scan, which identified the 80 highest-priority scientific questions that researchers aspire to answer (see SCAR ATCM XXXVIII (2015) IP020). The 80 resulting research questions were called “A roadmap for Antarctic science” for the next two decades and beyond. The SCAR Horizon Scan project was followed by the COMNAP Antarctic Roadmap Challenges (ARC) project which was a community effort to determine the steps necessary to enable the science “roadmap”, that is, to answer those 80 critical questions. The ARC project reported on the technology, access, infrastructure, logistics, costs and levels of international collaboration that would be required (see COMNAP ATCM XXXIX (2016) IP051). Together, the outcomes of the two projects explicitly identify both the research priorities for the Antarctic region, and the requirements for delivering them.

This paper highlights the important outcomes of the SCAR Antarctic Science Horizon Scan and the COMNAP Antarctic Roadmap Challenges Projects and provides recommendations to the ATCM. 

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

Working Paper

WP017: SCAR’s Code of Conduct for the Exploration and Research of Subglacial Aquatic Environments

Submitted: 06/04/2017

Summary:

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

Working Paper

WP018: SCAR’s Environmental Code of Conduct for Terrestrial Scientific Field Research in Antarctica

Submitted: 06/04/2017

Summary:

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

Working Paper

WP020: State of Knowledge of Wildlife Responses to Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS)

Submitted: 06/04/2017

Summary:

The increasing use and utility of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which are now preferably known as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), across the globe, including in Antarctic, brings corresponding challenges to their management. The CEP has recognised on several occasions the need for more information to inform guidelines on RPAS use around wildlife in Antarctica, including a request for SCAR to present a summary of the current state of knowledge regarding wildlife responses to RPAS. Here we present a synthesis from 23 published scientific research papers on wildlife responses to RPAS. Responses to RPAS were not consistent across species, and responses also varied in relation to flight path parameters (e.g. height and approach angle) and the type of RPAS. It is likely that wildlife responses are under-estimated in many cases due to a lack of data on physiological responses. Data on demographic effects (for example, changes in breeding numbers or breeding success) are also lacking. Guidelines for minimising RPAS disturbance to wildlife have been developed (see Hodgson and Koh 2016 [1] and Background Paper 1) and should be considered in Antarctic biological field research, but further studies are required to inform best- practice RPAS use in Antarctica around wildlife.

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

Working Paper

WP025: Antarctic Environments Portal (with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and the United States)

Submitted: 06/04/2017

Summary:

The Antarctic Environments Portal continues to provide the CEP and Antarctic Treaty Parties with a reliable source of information on issues of policy and management relevance. The Tinker Foundation has generously funded the Antarctic Environments Portal until 2018. The Portal is currently hosted by the University of Canterbury, Christchurch. At their 2016 meeting the SCAR delegates agreed, in principle, to take over the operation of the Portal once the Tinker Foundation grant concludes, provided a resource-neutral means of managing and operating the Portal can be established. A Content Management Plan for the Portal has been developed. This aims to provide a more structured approach to developing content for the Portal and for facilitating a dialogue with the CEP with regard to the content published on the Portal website. The paper authors recommend that the Committee: 1) considers opportunities for supporting SCAR’s management of the Portal after 2018, 2) reviews and provides comment on the Content Management Plan particularly with regard to content it wishes to see published on the Portal website.

ATCM XL and CEP XX 2017, Beijing, China

Working Paper

WP029: Proposed Update to the Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions (with Australia and New Zealand)

Submitted: 06/04/2017

Summary:

At CEP XV (2012) the Committee endorsed the Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions (ACBRs), and agreed that they should be used consistently and in conjunction with other tools agreed within the Antarctic Treaty system as a dynamic model for the identification of areas that could be designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Areas, within the systematic environmental-geographic framework referred to in Article 3(2) of Annex V of the Protocol. The ATCM welcomed the ACBRs through Resolution 6 (2012). Information Paper 15 summarises a recent revision of the ACBRs, reflecting updates in underlying spatial layers, together with the results of new analyses justifying the inclusion of an additional (16^th) biologically distinct large-scale ice-free area in the Prince Charles Mountains region (Annex to Attachment A). Australia, New Zealand and SCAR propose that the Committee endorses the revised ACBRs (ACBRs Version 2) and, if agreed, forwards the draft Resolution at Attachment A to the ATCM for approval.

See also Attachment 24 (ATT024)