Protecting the Antarctic

While many still consider the Antarctic a distant and barren continent, its importance as a natural reserve is recognized internationally. With nearly 80 per cent of the world's fresh water supply contained in Antarctic ice and numerous unique and vulnerable wildlife species, it continues to be a hot spot for environmental research and concern. As part of a global effort to protect the Antarctic environment, on December 1, 2003, Canada brought into force a new law called the Antarctic Environmental Protection Act.

The Antarctic has been governed collectively by many nations for nearly half a century, through an international agreement called the Antarctic Treaty. With visits from more and more adventurers and scientists, wildlife runs the risk of being harmfully disturbed and the management of waste has become a challenge.

International Antarctic Treaty

Recognizing the need to protect the Antarctic environment, the international community came together in 1991 to develop the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. Named after the city in which it was signed, the Madrid Protocol designates the Antarctic as a natural reserve devoted to science and peace. With the objective of further preventing environmental degradation in the Antarctic, the Madrid Protocol sets out environmental principles to govern activities that take place in the region.

Canada ratified the Madrid Protocol in 2003, joining 30 other countries. The passage of the Antarctic Environmental Protection Act will support the implementation of the Protocol in Canada. Now people on Canadian expeditions, and those operating Canadian aircraft and vessels need a permit to be in the Antarctic, except when granted permission from another nation that is party to the Madrid Protocol or in the case of an emergency. Environment Canada is now the federal department responsible for issuing these permits.

Life in the Antarctic

While it is not typically considered a prime tourist destination, more than 10 000 people land in the Antarctic each year and even more travel through its surrounding waters. The Antarctic boasts the harshest environment on earth, with the lowest temperature (minus 89.2C, at the Vostok station, in 1983) and the highest winds (up to 327 kilometres per hour) having been recorded there. With an average of about 15 centimetres of snow per year, the interior of the Antarctic is a vast, frozen desert. Ice and snow coverage can be up to four kilometres thick, and ice covers approximately 98 per cent of the continent.

The Antarctic is extremely important from an environmental perspective for many reasons. Water is of special importance since the continent holds 90 per cent of the world's ice and makes up roughly 80 per cent of the world's freshwater. The waters surrounding the Antarctic are extremely nutrient-rich and support a wide range of marine life, from the microscopic phytoplankton to the blue whale. The richness of the continent's wildlife is another factor that makes the Antarctic an important destination for scientific research. The penguin, undoubtedly the most famous natural resident of the Antarctic, is but one of hundreds of unique and vulnerable wildlife species found on the continent, from the lumbering elephant seal to the hundreds of less heralded species of lichen. More than 100 million birds come to breed in Antarctica each spring.

A number of countries have set up permanent bases on the continent, where the total population ranges from about 1000 people in winter, to nearly four times that number during the warmer summer months. Antarctica's fierce weather affords excellent opportunities to study the adaptability of organisms to extreme conditions. The damage to the ozone layer, stemming from the global use of ozone depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons, was first discovered in the form of a hole over the Antarctic.

As with the Arctic, the Antarctic is a sensitive indicator of global change. For example, a small increase in global temperature can have a large impact on the melting of Antarctic ice. This type of research is relevant to other parts of the world: should Antarctica's ice melt, it is estimated that the global sea level would rise by as much as 70 metres.

Adventure and Discovery

However, scientific research was not the first thing that drew people to the Antarctic. Adventure and discovery were perhaps the motivators that initially brought explorers to the continent in 1820. Its recent discovery, coupled with its geographic isolation, made Antarctica a popular destination for adventurers, culminating with Robert Scott and Raold Amundsen's famous race to the South Pole early in the twentieth century. While people have trekked, skied, trudged, climbed, sledded and snow-mobiled across most of the continent, it remains an alluring and popular place for adventure travellers and explorers.

As the appeal of the Antarctic grows, more people from around the world will be keen to visit. It is therefore important to ensure that the natural, pristine Antarctic environment is not destroyed by those who travel there. Implementation of the Madrid Protocol in Canada will help ensure that Canadians do their part to protect the environment at the southern most part of the world.