| Summary: | Offering the highest level of protection under the current Antarctic Treaty System, Antarctic Specially Protected Areas are often considered a key tool in the conservation of terrestrial Antarctica (Shaw et al 2014). However as conservation science evolves, and approaches to conservation planning become more systematic, the capability of these areas to meet long-term Antarctic conservation objectives has been questioned. To address this, both the placement and management of existing Antarctic Specially Protected Areas is reviewed, in order to assess whether, as a system, Antarctic Specially Protected Areas 1) designate adequate area, representative Antarctic biodiversity, and 2) effectively separate it from threatening processes. Finding that in the short term, stricter compliance with management guidelines and monitoring is required by Treaty Parties, and in the long term, that meeting representativeness and comprehensiveness requirements is impeded by both a gap in available data and the placement of existing system, it is clear that both the management and designation processes of ASPA's requires review if Antarctic conservation objectives are to be achieved.
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