Antartica Flashcards
Name some attractions of Antarctica?
The glacial landscape and wildlife. The seals, whales and penguins. Very remote and isolated Historic sites such as McMurdo Sound, there are expeditions here. Glacial landscapes Educational opportunities
Organisation is key to sustainability of the area, what have they done?
when tourists enter Antarctica there are strict guidelines that they must follow.
What is the point in the guidelines?
To prevent damage and make it sustainable.
In which ways can tourism occur?
Camping trips, ship board visits (cruise ships)
What is the Antarctic treaty?
When tourists arrive they are debriefed on the treaty, they are informed on the code of conduct.
When was the Antarctic treaty set up?
1961 by 12 countries.
What is its aim?
To protect the Antarctic from environmental damage and laws to protect it.
What has caused conflict?
The Antarctic has no native population so conflict has come from people trying to get ownership.
What does the treaty include?
Protocols and conventions that limit activities. For example oil and gas discharge from cruise ships and scientists have to remove their waste.
What are some positive impacts?
The guidelines are widely accepted by the operators.
No litter is dropped by the tourists.
Virtually no stress is caused to penguins by tourists visiting their breeded colonies and seals don’t react to the tourists.
Out of 200 landing sites only 5% show wear and tear.
What are some negative impacts?
The ecosystem is very fragile sop any disturbances will leave an imprint for a long time.
The demand for fresh water is difficult to meet.
There is some evidence that over flying by light panes and helicopters is causes some stress to the penguins.
What are some protection methods?
Most of the ships are comparatively small carrying around 50 to 100 people.
The tourists are educated by ship based programmes and are shown the treaty.
There are 200 possible sites, the group is subdivided into small groups of 20. Each site is only visited every 2/3 days.
