A Review of Inspections Under Article 7 of the Antarctic Treaty and Article 14 of Its Protocol on Environmental Protection, 1959- 2001
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º XXVI ATCM Information Paper IP-118-ASOC/UNEP/Rev.1 Agenda Item: ATCM 11 ASOC/UNEP Original: English A REVIEW OF INSPECTIONS UNDER ARTICLE 7 OF THE ANTARCTIC TREATY AND ARTICLE 14 OF ITS PROTOCOL ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, 1959-2001 Madrid, 9/20 de junio 2003 1 XXVI ATCM Information Paper 118/Rev.1 June 2003 Original: English Agenda Item 11 A REVIEW OF INSPECTIONS UNDER ARTICLE 7 OF THE ANTARCTIC TREATY AND ARTICLE 14 OF ITS PROTOCOL ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, 1959- 2001 Submitted to the XXVI ATCM by the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition and the United Nations Environment Programme 2 A REVIEW OF INSPECTIONS UNDER ARTICLE 7 OF THE ANTARCTIC TREATY AND ARTICLE 14 OF ITS PROTOCOL ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, 1959- 2001 I. INTRODUCTION Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty and Article 14 of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty enable Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties to conduct inspections in order to promote the objectives and ensure compliance with the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol. Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty establishes the right of free access for observation and inspection by the Contracting Parties. Observers designed under Article VII (1) “shall have complete freedom of access”, including the conducting of aerial observations, “at any time to any or all areas of Antarctica.” The facilities that may be inspected include “all stations, installations and equipment within those areas, and all ships and aircraft at points of discharging or embarking cargoes or personnel in Antarctica.” Article 14 of the Protocol establishes that Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties “shall arrange, individually or collectively, for inspections by observers to be made in accordance with Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty.” During inspections, observers should be given access to “all parts of stations, installations, equipment, ships and aircraft open to inspection under Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty, and to all records” that are maintained at those facilities in accordance to Protocol requirements. According to current practice, draft inspection reports are submitted to the inspected Parties for comments. They are subsequently made available to the Antarctic Treaty Parties and to the Committee for Environmental Protection, considered at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting that follows the inspection, and thereafter made publicly available. This report reviews past inspections with the view to inform the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties on the practice of inspections and assist them in planning future inspections. In agreement with the objectives of the Protocol, including its Article 14, the purpose of this report is to promote the protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems. The report focuses specifically on a number of aspects including: total number of official inspections and inspected sites or facilities; trends in official inspection frequency; geographical distribution of official inspections; Parties conducting inspections; official inspection frequency at each site or facility; official inspections of commercial tourism activities and non-governmental facilities; and, site or facility review visits carried by Non-Parties. II. METHODOLOGY A) List of inspections A tentative list of past inspections carried out under the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol between 1959 and 2001 was compiled by the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC). The compiled list is 3 reproduced in Annex I. The list was based on: ! Inspection reports, some of which list earlier inspections to a site or facility; ! A list of inspections contained in Annex E to the Final Report of the XVIII ATCM; ! A list of inspections contained in Working Paper 34 submitted by Australia to the XXV ATCM. With technical support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), a set of maps were created to visualize the geographical distribution of past inspections, as well as to represent some other aspects of inspections in a spatial context. These maps are at Appendix I. B) List of sites and facilities There is no official list of all sites and facilities in Antarctica. Such a list would help identify sites and facilities that have not yet been inspected. The Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP) has posted on its web site a list of Antarctic stations. As of May 2003, the list contains 82 stations, of which 73 are located within the Antarctic Treaty Area (see Annex II). The COMNAP’s list, however, mentions primarily stations that are currently operational. As such, it does not include all the sites or facilities that had been inspected so far. Indeed, there are 32 inspected sites or facilities — excluding vessels — that are not on COMNAP’s list. In addition, there are National Antarctic Programmes for which the main stations are listed but not the additional facilities, such as substantial field camps. The United Kingdom’s Antarctic Pilot and the SCAR’s Gazetter provide more comprehensive lists of Antarctic sites and facilities. The 1997 edition of the Antarctic Pilot lists 177 research stations and refuge huts inside the Antarctic Treaty Area, 27 aircraft landing places, 20 Specially Protected Areas, 35 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and 72 Historic Sites and Monuments. However, it is likely that there are sites and facilities that are not reflected in those lists. In this regard, it is hoped that a more complete compilation of sites and facilities will be developed as Parties to the Protocol implement Art 8 (3) of Annex III of the Protocol, which requires that “Each such Party shall, as far as is practicable, also prepare an inventory of locations of past activities (such as traverses, fuel depots, field bases, crashed aircraft) before the information is lost…”. For the purpose of this review, an ad hoc list of sites and facilities was produced that included in extenso the COMNAP’s list and derived additional information from the Antarctic Pilot. The ad hoc list is given at Annex III. It is clear that the tentative list of inspections and the ad hoc list of sites and facilities prepared for the purpose of this report are not exhaustive. In addition, both lists may contain erroneous information. ASOC would very much welcomed comments from Parties that could help improve both lists towards a more comprehensive review of the practice of inspection in Antarctica. 4 III. RESULTS A) Total number of official inspections and inspected sites or facilities The total number of official inspections1 conducted between 1959 and 2001 is 36, of which nine were carried out between 1992 and 2001, and four in the period 1998-20012 (see Table 1). The total number of inspected sites or facilities3 between 1959 and 2001 is 265, of which 89 were inspected between 1992 and 2001, and 46 in the period 1998-20014. B) Trends in official inspection frequency The frequency of official inspections increased during the 1959-2001 period from 0.82 inspections per annum during the period 1959-1991, to 0.83 for 1992-1997, and to 1 for 1998-2001 (see Fig.1). The frequency of inspected sites or facilities increased during the 1959-2001 period from 5.3 inspected sites or facilities per annum during the period 1959-1991, to 7.2 for 1992-1997, and 11.5 for 1998-2001 (see Fig.2). A peak in both the number of official inspections and in the number of inspected sites or facilities was recorded in the years immediately following the adoption of the 1988 Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities. 1 An inspection by official inspectors from one or more Parties to one or a number of sites or facilities - such as research stations, Historic Sites and Monuments, ships - following formal procedures under the Antarctic Treaty and the Madrid Protocol. 2 1959-1991 refers to the period from the adoption of the Antarctic Treaty up to the adoption of the Madrid Protocol (October 1991). 1992-1997 refers to the period from the adoption of the Madrid Protocol (October 1991) up to its entry into force (January 1998). 1998-2001 refers to the period from the entry into force of the Madrid Protocol (January 1998) up to June 2001. 3 An official inspection to a single site or facility. 4 It should be noted that there are have been inspections (quoted in Australia Working Paper No.34 submitted at the XXV ATCM) to an additional 28 facilities, the name of which is not available. All these inspections took place before October 1991. 5 Fig. 1 – Official inspections, 1959-2001 Fig. 2 – Number of inspected sites / facilities, 1959-2001 6 Table 1 – Tentative list of official inspections, 1959-2001 Year Inspected by Number of Region5 Source6 facilities inspected 1963 New Zealand 3 AW Auburn (1982) 1964 Australia 4 AW ATCPs (1994); Australia (2002) 1964 UK 1 RS ATCPs (1994); Australia (2002) 1964 USA 10 AW ATCPs (1994); Australia (2002) 1966 Argentina 1 AP ATCPs (1994); Australia (2002) 1967 USA 9 AW USA (1967) 1971 USA 4 EA USA (1971) 1975 USA 4 AP USA (1975) 1977 Argentina 1 Not available ATCPs (1994); Australia (2002) 1977 USA 5 AW USA (1977) 1980 USA 6 AP USA (1980) 1983 USA 14 AW USA (1983) 1985 USA 6 AP USA (1985) 1986 Australia 2 OC, EA Australia (1986) 1987 Chile 10 AP ATCPs (1994) 1988 Russia 15 AW USSR (1988) 1989 France/Germany 8 AP ATCPs (1994); Australia (2002) 1989 New Zealand 3 AP, SOI New Zealand (1989) 1989 UK/NZ 11 AP UK and New Zealand (1989) 1989 USA 16 OC, RS USA (1989) 1989 Russia 15 Not available ATCPs (1994); Australia (2002) 1990