Documents

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 01: Summary Agenda

Agenda Item: 1.2
Person Responsible: Chandrika Nath and ExCom

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 02: Annotated Agenda and Timetable

Agenda Item: 1.2
Person Responsible: Chandrika Nath and ExCom

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 03: List of Papers

Agenda Item: 1.2
Person Responsible: Chandrika Nath and ExCom

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 04: Finance Report

Agenda Item: 3.2
Person Responsible: Jefferson Simões

Authors: Jefferson Simões, Eoghan Griffin

Summary

SCAR finances are healthy, albeit after a difficult 2020 due to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Executive Committee has modified our usual budget provisions to accommodate new ways of working and support those likely to be most compromised.

A substantial part of the 2020 subsidiary groups’ budget was carried forward to 2021, as a great part of their planned actions were either postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic. Special actions were taken to protect the SCAR financial assets and the Secretariat staff while the pandemic continues.

It will be necessary to consider increases in National Contribution levels, largely unchanged since 2012, in the coming years. Proposals will be developed to address this issue and presented to the Delegates meeting in 2022 in Hyderabad, India.

The Finance Committee have met, in advance of the Delegates Meeting, and reviewed and approved the Statements and Budgets submitted to the Delegates Meeting.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 05: Financial Statement for 2018

Agenda Item: 3.2
Person Responsible: Eoghan Griffin

Authors: Eoghan Griffin, Jefferson Simões

Summary

The audited statement for 2018 is presented, which resulted in a surplus of USD$42,731 at year end.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 06: Financial Statement for 2019

Agenda Item: 3.2
Person Responsible: Eoghan Griffin

Authors: Eoghan Griffin, Jefferson Simões

Summary

The audited statement for 2019 is presented. The statement includes a report on the performance of the Investment Portfolio.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 07: Draft Financial Statement for 2020

Agenda Item: 3.2
Person Responsible: Eoghan Griffin

Authors: Eoghan Griffin, Jefferson Simões

Summary

The draft statement for 2020 is presented, this statement is unaudited as the SCAR accountants are currently preparing the 2020 accounts, which will then form the basis of the annual audit. The statement includes a report on the performance of the Investment Portfolio.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 08: Revised Budget for 2021

Agenda Item: 3.2
Person Responsible: Eoghan Griffin

Authors: Eoghan Griffin, Jefferson Simões

Summary

The revised budget for 2021 is presented, including funds carried forward from 2020.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 09: Revised Draft Budget for 2022

Agenda Item: 3.2
Person Responsible: Eoghan Griffin

Authors: Eoghan Griffin, Jefferson Simões

Summary

The draft budget for 2022 is presented.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 10: Application of Turkey for Full Membership

Agenda Item: 6.1
Person Responsible: Burcu Özsoy

Author: Prof. Hasan Mandal

Summary

This paper is an application by Turkey for Full Membership of SCAR as an Initial Stage Program. The letter of application and an annex on scientific work undertaken and to be continued by Turkey are provided. Turkey acceded to the Antarctic Treaty in 1996 and is a non-consultative party. It adopted the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty in 2017.

Recommendations

The Delegates consider the application of Turkey for Full Membership of SCAR.

Budget Implications

Initial Stage Membership fees are $12,400, which would represent an additional annual positive contribution to SCAR’s budget, above the Associate Member Fees currently contributed by Turkey.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 11: Application of the Czech Republic for Full Membership

Agenda Item: 6.2

Person Responsible: Daniel Nývlt

Author: Daniel Nývlt

Summary

This paper is an application by the Czech Republic for Full Membership of SCAR as an Initial Stage Program. The letter of application and an annex on scientific work undertaken and to be continued by the Czech Republic are provided. The Czech Republic adopted the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty in 2004, and became a consultative party to the Antarctic Treaty in 2014 (acknowledging the prior status of Czechoslovakia since 1962).

Recommendations

The Delegates consider the application of the Czech Republic for Full Membership of SCAR.

Budget Implications

Initial Stage Membership fees are $12,400, which would represent an additional annual positive contribution to SCAR’s budget, above the Associate Member Fees currently contributed by the Czech Republic.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 12: Application of Mexico for Associate Membership

Agenda Item: 6.3
Person Responsible: Dra. Susana Lizano Soberón

Author: Dra. Susana Lizano Soberón

Summary

This paper is an application by Mexico for Associate Membership of SCAR. The letter of application and an annex on scientific work undertaken through collaboration and planned participation by Mexico are provided.

Recommendations

The Delegates consider the application of Mexico for Associate Membership of SCAR.

Budget Implications

The Associate Membership fee of $7,000 would be an additional annual positive contribution to SCAR’s budget.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 13: Report of Geosciences Group

Agenda Item: 8.1
Person Responsible: Jesús Galindo-Zaldívar

Authors: Jesús Galindo-Zaldívar (Chief Officer, Spain), Naresh C. Pant (Deputy Chief Officer, India), Marcelo Leppe (Secretary, Chile), Contributions of Chief Officers of Expert Groups and Action Groups.

Summary of activities from 2018-20

This report includes the activities of Geosciences Group in a setting where the global COVID19 pandemic prevents in person meeting to advance in the programmed 2020 activities. Most of these proposed meetings have been delayed at least for the next year. The internal discussions of most of the groups are postponed, including GSG, waiting for a new virtual or in person setting for meetings. In this framework, it is not possible to adequately develop the activities, including elections and budget allocation, and in consequence planning is mostly extrapolated from previous years.

Geosciences Group include 7 expert groups and 4 action groups, three of them cross- disciplinary. The action group GeoMAP has successfully completed their tasks for which they were stablished and is proposed to end. GeoMAP Action Group has constructed a GIS dataset describing exposed bedrock and surficial geology of Antarctica. The recommendation is that the produced map becomes a SCAR product. Action Group on Geological Heritage and Geoconservation has provided valuable results in response to the request from SCAR for advice on the protection of geological heritage sites from the CEP. SCAR should consider the best way to advance in the identification of Antarctic Geological Heritage and proposals of Geosites that will require the close interaction of the Geosciences Group and the SCATS. This group aimed to become an expert group during the cancelled Hobart SCAR 2020 meeting and will continue as an action group up to the next GSG meeting. Recommendations to Delegates are included in the Group report. Other EG / AG continue their scheduled activities and do not have any major issue. Please peruse details of their activities in Progress reports submitted by each EG/AG.

The main activity in this period have been the ISAES XIII, in Incheon, Republic of Korea, July 22-26, 2019, hosted by the KOPRI, with 443 submitted abstracts, about 300 international participants and 100 to 150 Korean attenders (https://www.isaes2019.org:12090/home/).

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 15: Report of Physical Sciences Group

Agenda Item: 8.3
Person Responsible: David Bromwich

Authors: D.H. Bromwich (USA), A. Gulisano (Argentina), S. Colwell (United Kingdom)

Summary of activities from 2018-20

Near-term Variability and Prediction of the Antarctic Climate System (AntClimNow) Proposal Planning Group sponsored by PSG. Submitted its proposal to SCAR to be a Scientific Research Program on May 31, 2020.

Radio Sciences Research on AntarCtic AtmosphEre (RESOURCE). Proposal Planning Group proposal submitted March 2020.

Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH), partially supported by and certainly facilitated by SCAR, successfully completed its Special Observing Period, November 2018-February 2019.

Recommending termination of PACT AG (long past its wind-up date) and SnowANT AG (no activity). Remote Sensing AG requests a merge with Earth Observation AG who agrees. These are good developments as PSG has too many subgroups and reduces the budding overlap between subgroups.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 16: Report of Standing Committee on Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS)

Agenda Item: 9.1
Person Responsible: Daniela Liggett

Authors: Elizabeth Leane (University of Tasmania, Australia), Daniela Liggett (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Cornelia Lüdecke (University of Hamburg, Germany), Peder Roberts (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)

Summary of activities from 2018-20

After its formation at the Delegates Meeting in 2018 (drawing on the merged HASSEG and History EG groups), SC-HASS has been led by three Chief Officers, with seven other representatives forming a 10-person steering committee. Dr Alan Hemmings stood down in mid-2020, and Associate Professor Alejandra Mancilla agreed to join the steering committee. Prof Dr Cornelia Lüdecke has retired from her university position in 2020 but has agreed to remain as a Chief Officer to ensure continuity until an election can be held for her replacement. The Chief Officers have co-opted Associate Professor Peder Roberts to assist with administrative tasks on an ad hoc basis to ensure that the work of the Group continues smoothly.
We have approved four Action Groups, two of which have been active over 2018-2020 – the AG on Intrinsic Values in Antarctica (AGIVA) and the AG on Resilience and the Future of Science-based Decision-making for Antarctica (PolSciNex). The AG on Environing Antarctica: perspectives from history, social sciences and the humanities on managing and assessing Antarctic environments (EN-AQ) and Public Engagement with Antarctic Science AG both plan to begin activities in 2021.

In April 2019, we held the first official SC-HASS biennial conference in Ushuaia, Argentina. 130 delegates (106 presenters, including 40 students/unwaged) attended. Twenty-seven travel bursaries of up to USD$500 were awarded to support researchers from non-traditional SCAR states or early-career researchers. The PolSciNex AG and AGIVA organized individual sessions at the conference. A special issue of The Polar Journal with the theme “Latin America and Antarctica” was published from the conference in December 2019. Seven SC-HASS-related sessions were planned for SCAR COMNAP 2020, and at least two of these are likely to run as online sessions. The SC-HASS Business Meeting will be held online in August 2020.

After the onset COVID-19 pandemic, a diverse group of 25-30 researchers within SC-HASS, led by Chief Officer Daniela Liggett, was organized to study the impact of the pandemic on Antarctic research and the Antarctic sector more generally, with the aim of producing a report of SCAR and a series of academic papers.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 17: Report of Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System (SCATS)

Agenda Item: 10.1
Person Responsible: Aleks Terauds

Authors: Aleks Terauds (Australia)

Summary of activities from 2018-20
The SCAR Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System (SC-ATS) continued to focus on the provision of advice to the Antarctic Treaty System and engaged in a range of international activities that enhanced SCAR’s reputation as a provider of independent scientific advice and as a leader in Antarctic research. These activities have included active participation in the 2018 and 2019 CCAMLR Meetings, a workshop on Antarctic Tourism in 2019, the 2019 CEP/ATCM meetings, the development and support of one major international workshop, maintaining an active and influential role in the Antarctic Environments Portal and direct involvement in a diverse range of research projects.

Despite the postponement of the 2020 ATCM/CEP, SC-ATS continues to develop and finalize submissions and contribute to intersessional discussions, including the development of new policy-relevant advice through active engagement with international scientists and policy makers. To help achieve this, SC-ATS is continually working on developing ideas to underpin future international initiatives.

The term of current Chief Officer Aleks Terauds will come to an end in September 2020. Following discussions with the SCAR Executive Committee and SCAR Secretariat, we would like to nominate Dr Susie Grant as the new Chief Officer of SC-ATS for the term 2020-2024 and recommend that the Delegates endorse her appointment to this role.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 18: Bid from Chile to Host SCAR 2024

Agenda Item: 7.1
Person Responsible: Marcelo Leppe

Authors: Chilean Delegates

Summary

Proposal, on behalf of the Chilean Government, to host SCAR’s Open Science Conference and Biennial Meetings in 2024 in the city of Pucón.

The bid comprises a letter from the Foreign Minister of Chile, the bid document “Antarctic Science: Crossroads for a New Hope”, and a tri-fold summary flyer.

Recommendations

Delegates are asked to consider the bid from Chile for hosting the 2024 meetings

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 19: Executive Director’s Report

Agenda Item: 11.1
Person Responsible: Chandrika Nath

Author: Chandrika Nath

Summary

The SCAR Executive Director’s role cuts across all areas of SCAR’s work. The Executive Director (ED) oversees the work of the Secretariat but also plays a wider role in providing strategic advice and support to the SCAR Executive Committee (ExCom) and support to SCAR group leaders.

During 2018 and 2019, a key focus was the management of the Secretariat and supporting the ExCom. The ED also worked extensively on development of SCAR’s internal and external communications, on delivery of scientific advice to the ATCM and other key policy fora, and on plans for the SCAR Open Science Conference in Hobart. The ED also represented SCAR and raised awareness of its work at a range of science and policy fora. During 2020, the pandemic and associated disruption to working practices in the UK and elsewhere meant that the ED’s focus was on ensuring continuity of SCAR’s business, including managing the process of transitioning the Secretariat to home working and managing the transition of the SCAR 2020 OSC in Hobart to SCAR2020 Online.

A future priority for the ED will be to support the new SCAR President and Executive Committee with SCAR’s forward agenda, to ensure continuity of SCAR’s activities through the ongoing pandemic and facilitate the Secretariat’s transition back to normal working arrangements as UK lockdown lifts.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 20: Secretariat Report

Agenda Item: 11.2
Person Responsible: Chandrika Nath

Authors: Chandrika Nath, Eoghan Griffin, Rosemary Nash, Johanna Grabow

Summary

Since the 2018 SCAR Delegates meeting, the Secretariat has continued to support SCAR’s remit of facilitating high quality international research and providing objective and independent scientific advice to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and other organizations, working closely with the Executive Committee (Excom). In parallel it has continued to develop and refine its own internal processes to increase its effectiveness.

The expansion of the Secretariat to include a Communications and Information Officer (CIO) since December 2018, has helped the Secretariat manage its day-to-day workload and to increase the efficiency of both internal and external communications.

The Secretariat has worked to support the Executive Committee and SCAR Groups through the COVID-19 pandemic. A key focus of 2020 was to organise the SCAR 2020 Online meetings in August 2020, building on preparations for the cancelled Open Science Conference in Hobart in 2020. More recently the priority has been the arrangements and organisation of the first online SCAR Delegates Meeting.

The Secretariat has worked from home since the closure of the Scott Polar Research Institute in March 2020, but has worked effectively within the limitations of lockdown.

SCAR XXXVI Delegates Meeting, Online, 16-25 March 2021

SCAR XXXVI Paper 21: Executive Committee Report

Agenda Item: 11.3
Person Responsible: Steven Chown

Authors: Steven Chown, Gary Wilson, M Ravichandran, Jefferson Simões, Catherine Ritz

Summary

Since the last meeting in Davos, 2018, the Executive Committee (ExCom) focused its attention on the following matters, some of which were either precipitated by, or delayed by, the global pandemic, which was declared by the WHO on 11th March 2020.

SCAR Articles and Delegates meeting
Open Science Conference (switched online)
Scientific Research Programmes
Secretariat Arrangements
Capacity Building
Evidence-based Advice to the ATS
Budget Sustainability (given the pandemic)
Structural Review (delayed)

The ExCom met regularly (every six weeks) for the full interim period. A higher frequency of meetings took place to respond to the pandemic in its initial stages, and in particular when decisions about the OSC and Delegates meeting had to be made.
Several decisions about SCAR Business were made by the Executive Committee based on its assessments of the situation facing SCAR, given the pandemic, and based on information gathering such as that undertaken through the Delegates Business Consultation.

A key ongoing challenge facing SCAR is to maintain interest, activity and integration among our researchers and activities, at a time when everyone is facing a wide range of unexpected challenges, including limits to Antarctic and Southern Ocean fieldwork.