| Summary: | Many of the world’s most pressing environmental issues, from climate change to biodiversity loss, are manifest in the global ‘commons’. Interest in securing access to the global commons has never been greater, particularly from security, trade and critical resources perspectives. Few places illustrate the complexities of a global commons better than Antarctica, where challenges such as ocean acidification, economic utilisation of natural resources and threats to unique biodiversity imply a ‘tragedy’ in the making. Garrett Hardin claimed in 1968 that resources treated as commons are destined to be over-used - leading to an inevitable ‘tragedy of the commons’ if not privatized or placed under centralized government management. By contrast, Elinor Ostrom (1990) believed that, under certain conditions, individual users do restrict their use of resources and share the benefits of ‘the commons’ through collaborative action for everyone’s long-term benefit. Using a mixed-methods approach, the current study utilises these two contrasting common pool resource management frameworks to understand New Zealand Antarctic stakeholder perspectives (including those of policy-makers, scientists, managers, NGOs, media, and commercial industry representatives) on Antarctic conservation. The poster presents the initial findings from the qualitative interviews (n=22) conducted as part of this research, and outlines the range of perspectives held by New Zealand Antarctic stakeholders on Antarctic conservation.
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