Polar environments - Fundamentals of the Physical Environment - page 742

very thing which attracts them to the area. The three types of tourism are overflights,
cruise visits and land-based visits.
Overflights are used in both Antarctica and the Arctic. The impact is greater from low-
flying aircraft. Animals and birds can be greatly disturbed, with heavy loss of breeding
success. In the north the main wildlife concerns relate to ungulates such as caribou, as
well as birds. In Antarctica low overflights of penguin colonies have brought
considerable destruction by causing panic, desertion and predator attack. Hydrocarbon
residues from aircraft fuel can be scattered over a wide area by wind.
Cruise tourism has many more impacts. There are real risks of water pollution from
diesel spills and waste and sewage disposal. Any shipwrecks are likely to cause
considerable disturbance to wildlife, whether directly from fuel spills or indirectly.
Although no permanent land-based construction is required, repeated visits can create
pressure on vegetation and raise problems of waste disposal. There is also the possibility
that bird and plant diseases may be introduced, not to mention the introduction of exotic
plant species into the region.
Land-based tourism will have the greatest impact on the polar environment, owing to
the need for a full range of support facilities for transport (airstrips, roads, harbours),
accommodation (hotels, lodges, camp sites) and the usual range of tourist attractions
(shops, trails). There is increased competition with native flora and fauna for icefree land
and fresh water. Water pollution, the disposal of rubbish and sewage, and disturbance of
the breeding and feeding patterns of wildlife are all direct negative impacts. Unsuitable
travel through sensitive areas or uncontrolled souvenir hunting and trampling can destroy
sensitive ecosystems. Disruption of permafrost could occur in extreme cases. On the
positive side, tourism can build up support for conservation and help to raise finance for
it. However, it may be as harmful to the physical environment as are mining and mineral
activity. It is necessary, therefore, to keep it under reasonable controls if it is not going to
destroy the landscape which attracted the tourists in the first place.
CONCLUSION
Polar environments have become better understood since the great strides in exploration
and discovery of the final years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the
twentieth. The Antarctic region is unique on Earth in being the only entire ecosystem to
be managed under the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living
Resources (CCAMLR), which came into effect in 1982 under the Antarctic Treaty
System. The convention confers a degree of protection unparalleled elsewhere. In the
Arctic the eight Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia,
Sweden and the United States) have adopted the Arctic Environment Protection Strategy
(AEPS), which aims to protect the fragile polar ecosystems. However, so far there is no
unanimous view on how the Arctic should be protected, as conservation is defined as
'rational use'. There is little agreement on how 'rational use' should be interpreted; some
countries define it as 'no use', whilst others clearly intend to use the area for non-
renewable resources (metals and energy) and even for the harvesting of marine renewable
resources (fish, seals, whales), The maintenance of healthy ecosystems remains an
important responsibility which will not be easy to fulfil in the Arctic.