Developing useful environmental indicators to assess tourism impacts in the Ross Sea Region: A recommended approach

—This paper addresses the issue of environmental impacts of tourism in Antarctica, specifically examining the Ross Sea region. Since the first tourist visit by ship in 1966, tourist numbers have steadily risen to the 15000 visitors received by Antarctica last year. Most travel is concentrated in the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Revfem, Calum
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:English
Published: 2001
Subjects:
Eia
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14260
Description
Summary:—This paper addresses the issue of environmental impacts of tourism in Antarctica, specifically examining the Ross Sea region. Since the first tourist visit by ship in 1966, tourist numbers have steadily risen to the 15000 visitors received by Antarctica last year. Most travel is concentrated in the Antarctic peninsula, although there are approximately 1000 visitors each season to the Ross Sea region. Flying to the continent is now an option, but is severely limited by climate and logistical constraints. Antarctic tourism is expensive, but given changes in technology and in other constraining areas, the potential for sudden and substantial growth exists — as has taken place in the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. The Antarctic Treaty System, through A TCP adoption of its Environmental Protocol, uses Environmental Impact Assessment to monitor tourist activities. New Zealand companies or any vessels departing out of New Zealand for Antarctica, are regulated by New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. A Compulsory Environmental Evaluation has not been required for tourist activities. Instead an Initial Environmental Evaluation (less rigorous) is completed and independent Observers (government officials) are placed on all vessels to verify monitoring. Most tourist operators belong to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), which is a self-regulating body that abides by the Environmental Protocol. IAATO members also undertake environmental monitoring outside of their EIA requirements. The EIA process presents a number of issues: Assessment is made on a case by case basis, monitoring indicators are developed for each case and there is no systematic or standardised approach to their development. These shortfalls are compounded by the focus on in-situ monitoring (lack of post activity monitoring) and obvious conflict-of-interest implications presented by self-monitoring. Defining the outputs and environmental exposure of tourist activities is necessary in understanding and ...