Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
divorced from politics. Consequently its close links with the Treaty has been a
most unusual relationship, and yet one from which both sides have gained a
great deal.
For more than a decade the consultative parties were only the original 12 nations,
which were the same as for SCAR. It may be said with considerable justi
cation that
this was an
, as many of the participants at the meetings had known
each other for years, and in some cases been in the Antarctic during the IGY. Today,
the ATCPs are much less homogenous, and the membership of the Treaty and
SCAR are not identical, although all Consultative Parties are members of SCAR.
The Parties realised immediately that they lacked the necessary scienti
'
Old Boys Club
'
c data on
which to base important decisions about governance. The Treaty says very little
about conservation and this needed to be addressed as a priority. SCAR drafted a
proposal, which by 1964 had turned into the
'
Agreed Measures for the Conservation
of Antarctic Flora and Fauna
first conservation initiative under the Treaty. And
this became the practical way forward for the next few decades where SCAR
sometimes initiated a new discussion whilst at other times the Parties asked formally
for advice on particular subjects.
The Measures in 1964 were the
'
, the
first major step in a process that, over the
years, has led to a whole complex of arrangements commonly called the Antarctic
Treaty System (ATS). This consists of the Treaty with its many hundreds of
Measures agreed to at the ATCMs, which thereafter have to be adopted by the
individual parties to enter into force and become legally binding. In addition the
ATS includes two separate conventions, on seals and marine life, and a protocol
on Environmental Protection under the Treaty, all described below.
The ATCMs were originally every 2 years, but have been annual from 1991.
Since 1983 the non-consultative parties have participated in the ATCM, and also
in Special Consultative Meetings to consider issues of minerals, and of
environmental protection. The Consultative Parties also invited observers and
experts from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organisations to advise
within their respective interests. From the start, SCAR has had a special observer
status at the ATCMs, which later also has been given to COMNAP (Council of
Managers of National Antarctic Programs), which was established in 1989. The two
organisations give reports at the ATCMs. In this way the international community
of the
have an independent route into
the governance system. The ATCPs have also organised Meetings of Experts to
consider special questions, such as telecommunications, air safety, tourism,
code of shipping and climate change.
The responsibility for organising the ATCMs goes in rotation between the
ATCPs, following the alphabet of country names in English. Until 2004 there was no
permanent secretariat and no of
'
governed
'-
scientists and logisticians
-
cial archive. The nearest to the latter was the
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