| Summary: | Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean and therefore isolated to the rest of the world. This continent has for the past hundred years seen a growing numbers Of humans exploring its surroundings and in later years a tourism industry has developed. This remote place, the cold engine that drives important global systems, is facing a growing commercialism in the shape of tourism. It has become a place where tourists are willing to pay a lot of money to be able to go, and of course, where there is demand there is supply. The development of this industry in the Ross Sea region has occurred mostly during the 1990s, with a steadily but relatively small increase in total numbers compared to the rest of Antarctica. The Ross Sea region has a 100- year history of human activities and has today become the second most popular tourist area in Antarctica. The tourism is a huge industry all over the world and is becoming an established activity in Antarctica. This provides a unique opportunity to monitor the possible effects on a relatively untouched continent. Antarctic Treaty was formed in 1961, making Antarctica the first and only demilitarised continent in the world. The Treaty includes protecting and preserving Antarctica's unique surroundings. The legal basis for managing the envlronmental impacts Of all human activity in the Antarctic is the 1991 Protocol on the Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. This report looks at ways of measuring possible impacts from tourism activities in the Ross Sea region. Already, steps have been taken to monitor and measure possible impacts from the tourism industry in the Antarctic Peninsula. In this reglon, there is a site inventory that consists of basic site information, variable site information and data and also maps and documentation. Other ways of monitoring includes: • weather and other environmental conditions (e.g. sea ice extent, cloud Cover, snow cover, temperature, wind direction and speed) at time of visit; • biological variables (e.g. vegetation cover, ...
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