Environmental impact assessment in Antarctica: application of the “minor or transitory impact” criterion

• Main Author: Tarasenko, Sergey
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: University of Canterbury 2009
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/13930

One of the environmental principles enshrined in Article 3 of the Environmental Protocol is that “activities in the Antarctic Treaty area shall be planned and conducted on the basis of information sufficient to allow prior assessments of, and informed judgments about, their possible impacts on the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems and on the value of Antarctica for the conduct of scientific research”. Article 8 of the Protocol introduces the term “Environmental Impact Assessment” and provides three categories of environmental impacts (less than, equal to and more than minor or transitory), according to their significance. However there is no clear definition of “minor or transitory impact” term and difficulties with application of this criterion thus far appear. This review will attempt to discuss different interpretations of this concept. Also it will briefly describe some aspects of its practical application and approach to preparing EIAs.