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Antarctic
links
 Antarctica
Human activities
in Antarctica are primarily regulated by the complex of multilateral agreements
of the Antarctic Treaty System, in particular the Antarctic Treaty itself
and its Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection. Human activities in the
Antarctic continent currently focus on scientific research and environmental
protection.
UNEP direct involment
in Antarctic matters includes the preparation of the report of the United
Nations Secretary-General on the Question of Antarctica and the participation
in the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings.
In addition,
through its various global programmes, UNEP addresses assessment, management
and policy aspects of global and regional environmental issues, many of which
are relevant to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
UNEP’s
involvement in the polar areas requires policy guidance and co-ordinated inputs
from UNEP substantive units. To this end, a Polar Task Force has been established
that convenes on an ad hoc basis to discuss and decide upon policy
issues and to a lesser degree on operational matters in the poles.
Reports
of the UN Secretary-General on the Question of Antarctica
In order
to keep the international community informed on the activities of the
Antarctic Treaty Parties, the United Nations was requested to serve
as a neutral channel to provide information on Antarctic activities.
To this end, the UN Secretary-General submits to the UN General Assembly
a report on Question of Antarctica on a periodical basis, usually every
three years. The report is prepared by UNEP.
See more...
Participation in the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings
UNEP participates
in the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and the meetings of the
Committee for Environmental Protection that take place annually. These
meetings aim at reviewing and promoting further the implementation of
the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol on Environmental Protection. UNEP
contributes to these meetings by the submission of technical papers
that cover a range of issues including the practice of inspections,
bioprospecting and the status of conservation of Antarctic mammals and
birds.See
more...
Relevance
of UNEP's global programmes to Antarctica
UNEP has
closely linked global programmes on the conservation, management and
monitoring of the marine environment and its living resources. These
programmes include the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Management
and Utilization of Marine Mammals, the Global
Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from
Land-based Activities and the Regional
Seas Programme. The later comprises 13 regions and over 140 governments
in a system of legally binding conventions and protocols implemented
through action plans. Major periodic coordination meetings are organized
among the regional seas to share experiences, to which the Convention
for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources is also
invited.
The assessment
programme of UNEP has responsibility for keeping under review the state
of the environment. UNEP launched the fourth volume of the Global
Environment Outlook series in 2004, where specific chapters are
dedicated to the poles. Antarctica is also one of the area of the UNEP’s Global International Water Assessment which aims at producing a comprehensive and integrated global assessment
of the ecological status of and the causes of environmental problems
in 66 water areas in the world.
UNEP administers
the secretariats of various global conventions dealing with subjects
directly relevant to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. They include
the Vienna Convention for the Protection
of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the Convention
on Biological Diversity, the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the Convention on the Conservation
of Migratory Species of Wild Animals under which the recent Agreement
on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels was negotiated.
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