The Antarctic Treaty Measures adopted at the Fortieth Consultative Meeting held at Beijing, China 22 May – 1 June 2017 Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by Command of Her Majesty September 2018 Cm 9693 © Crown copyright 2018 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at Treaty Section, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH ISBN 978-1-5286-0808-4 CCS CCS0918585088 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majestyʼs Stationery Office MEASURES ADOPTED AT THE FORTIETH ANTARCTIC TREATY CONSULTATIVE MEETING Beijing, China 22 May – 1 June 2017 The Measures1 adopted at the Fortieth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting are reproduced below from the Final Report of the Meeting. In accordance with Article IX, paragraph 4, of the Antarctic Treaty, the Measures adopted at Consultative Meetings become effective upon approval by all Contracting Parties whose representatives were entitled to participate in the meeting at which they were adopted (i.e. all the Consultative Parties). The full text of the Final Report of the Meeting, including the Decisions and Resolutions adopted at that Meeting and colour copies of the maps found in this command paper, is available on the website of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat at www.ats.aq/documents. The approval procedures set out in Article 6 (1) of Annex V to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty2 apply to Measures 1 to 8 (2017). 1As defined in Decision 1 (1995), published in Miscellaneous No. 28 (1996) Cm 3483 2 Treaty Series No. 15 (2006) Cm 6855 The texts of the Antarctic Treaty together with the texts of the Recommendations of the first three Consultative Meetings (Canberra 1961, Buenos Aires 1962 and Brussels 1964) have been published in Treaty Series No. 97 (1961) Cmnd. 1535 and Miscellaneous No. 23 (1965) Cmnd. 2822. The text of the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty has been published in Treaty Series No. 6 (1999) Cm 4256. The text of Annex V to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty has been published in Treaty Series No. 15 (2006) Cm 6855. The Recommendations of the Fourth to Eighteenth Consultative Meetings, the Reports of the First to Sixth Special Consultative Meetings and the Measures adopted at the Nineteenth and the Measures adopted at the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first, Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Consultative Meetings were also published as Command Papers. No Command Papers were published for the Twentieth to Twenty-fifth Consultative Meetings. 3 Measures Adopted at the XL Consultative Meeting held at Beijing, China 22 May – 1 June 2017 Measure 1 (2017): Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 109 (Moe Island, South Orkney Islands): Revised Management Plan Page 5 Measure 2 (2017): Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 110 (Lynch Island, South Orkney Islands): Revised Management Plan Page 21 Measure 3 (2017): Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 111 (Southern Powell Island and adjacent islands, South Orkney Islands): Revised Management Plan Page 40 Measure 4 (2017): Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 115 (Lagotellerie Island, Marguerite Bay, Graham Land): Revised Management Plan Page 54 Measure 5 (2017): Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 129 (Rothera Point, Adelaide Island): Revised Management Plan Page 74 Measure 6 (2017): Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 140 (Parts of Deception Island, South Shetland Islands): Revised Management Plan Page 86 Measure 7 (2017): Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 165 (Edmonson Point, Wood Bay, Ross Sea): Revised Management Plan Page 117 Measure 8 (2017): Antarctic Specially Managed Area No 5 (Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, South Pole): Revised Management Plan Page 155 4 Measure 1 (2017) Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 109 (Moe Island, South Orkney Islands): Revised Management Plan The Representatives, Recalling Articles 3, 5 and 6 of Annex V to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (“the Protocol”) providing for the designation of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (“ASPA”) and approval of Management Plans for those Areas; Recalling Recommendation IV-13 (1966), which designated Moe Island, South Orkney Islands as Specially Protected Area (“SPA”) No. 13 and annexed a map of the Area; Recommendation XVI-6 (1991), which annexed a revised description of SPA 13 and a Management Plan for the Area; Measure 1 (1995), which annexed a revised description and a revised Management Plan for SPA 13; Decision 1 (2002), which renamed and renumbered SPA 13 as ASPA 109; Measures 1 (2007) and 1 (2012), which adopted revised Management Plans for ASPA 109; Recalling that Recommendation IV-13 (1966) was designated as no longer current by Decision 1 (2011), that Resolution 9 (1995) was designated as no longer current by Resolution 1 (2008), that Recommendation XVI-6 (1991) did not become effective and was withdrawn by Decision (D) 2017 and Measure 1 (1995) did not become effective and was withdrawn by Measure 3 (2012); Noting that the Committee for Environmental Protection has endorsed a revised Management Plan for ASPA 109; Desiring to replace the existing Management Plan for ASPA 109 with the revised Management Plan; Recommend to their Governments the following Measure for approval in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 6 of Annex V to the Protocol: That: 1. the revised Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 109 (Moe Island, South Orkney Islands), which is annexed to this Measure, be approved; and 2. the Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 109 annexed to Measure 1 (2012) be revoked. 5 Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 109 MOE ISLAND, SOUTH ORKNEY ISLANDS Introduction The primary reason for the designation of Moe Island, South Orkney Islands (Latitude 60°44'S, Longitude 045°41'W), as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No. 109 is to protect environmental values, and primarily the terrestrial flora and fauna within the Area. The Area was originally designated in Recommendation IV-13 (1966, SPA No. 13) after a proposal by the United Kingdom on the grounds that the Area provided a representative sample of the maritime Antarctic ecosystem, that intensive experimental research on the neighbouring Signy Island might alter its ecosystem and that Moe Island should be specially protected as a control area for future comparison. These grounds are still relevant. Whilst there is no evidence that research activities at Signy Island have significantly altered the ecosystems there, a major change has occurred in the low altitude terrestrial system as a result of the rapidly expanding Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) population. Plant communities on nearby Signy Island have been physically disrupted by trampling by fur seals and nitrogen enrichment from the seals’ excreta has resulted in replacement of bryophytes and lichens by the macro-alga Prasiola crispa. Low-lying lakes have been significantly affected by enriched run-off from the surrounding land. So far Moe Island has only been invaded by fur seals to a limited extent and its topography makes it less likely that seals will penetrate to the more sensitive areas inland. Moe Island has been visited on few occasions and has never been the site of occupation for periods of more than a few hours. Resolution 3 (2008) recommended that the “Environmental Domains Analysis for the Antarctic Continent”, be used as a dynamic model for the identification of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas within the systematic environmental- geographical framework referred to in Article 3(2) of Annex V of the Protocol (see also Morgan et al., 2007). Using this model, ASPA 109 is contained within Environment Domain G (Antarctic Peninsula off-shore islands geologic). The scarcity of Environment Domain G, relative to the other environmental domain areas, means that substantial efforts have been made to conserve the values found within this environment type elsewhere: other protected areas containing Domain G include ASPAs 111, 112, 125, 126, 128, 145, 149, 150, and 152 and ASMAs 1 and 4. Resolution 6 (2012) recommended that the Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions (ACBRs) be used for the ‘identification of areas that could be designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Areas within the systematic environmental-geographic framework referred to in Article 3(2) of Annex V to the Environmental Protocol. 6 ASPA 109 sits within Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Region (ACBR) 2 South Orkney Islands. Through Resolution 5 (2015) Parties recognised the usefulness of the list of Antarctic Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in planning and conducting activities in Antarctica. Within the boundary of ASPA 109 is located IBA ANT020 Moe Island, which was identified due to its extensive colonies of chinstrap penguins, cape petrels