Long-term Scientific Monitoring and Sustained Environmental Observation in Antarctica
The Representatives,
Recalling the Edinburgh Antarctic Declaration on the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) that was agreed at ATCM XXIX, which supports the objective of delivering a lasting legacy for the International Polar Year, and promotes increasing collaboration and coordination of scientific studies within Antarctica;
Recalling that the Committee for Environmental Protection has a continuing commitment to environmental monitoring related to the implementation of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty;
Noting that the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting of 26 October 2005 urged all member countries of the Arctic Council to maintain and extend long-term monitoring of change in all parts of the Arctic as well as to create a coordinated Arctic observing network;
Recalling the success of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Programme in providing over two decades of circum-Antarctic data on the Antarctic marine ecosystem and biological environment;
Welcoming and supporting the proposal by the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research to establish a multi-disciplinary pan-Antarctic observing system, which will, in collaboration with others, coordinate long-term monitoring and sustained observation in the Antarctic;
Recommend that the Parties:
1. urge national Antarctic programmes to maintain and extend long-term scientific monitoring and sustained observations of environmental change in the physical, chemical, geological and biological components of the Antarctic environment;
2. contribute to a coordinated Antarctic observing system network initiated during the IPY in cooperation with SCAR, CCAMLR, WMO, GEO and other appropriate international bodies;
3. support long-term monitoring and sustained observations of the Antarctic environment and the associated data management as a primary legacy of the IPY, to enable the detection, and underpin the understanding and forecasting of the impacts of environmental and climate change.
The Representatives,
Recalling the Edinburgh Antarctic Declaration on the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) that was agreed at ATCM XXIX, which supports the objective of delivering a lasting legacy for the International Polar Year, and promotes increasing collaboration and coordination of scientific studies within Antarctica;
Recalling that the Committee for Environmental Protection has a continuing commitment to environmental monitoring related to the implementation of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty;
Noting that the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting of 26 October 2005 urged all member countries of the Arctic Council to maintain and extend long-term monitoring of change in all parts of the Arctic as well as to create a coordinated Arctic observing network;
Recalling the success of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Programme in providing over two decades of circum-Antarctic data on the Antarctic marine ecosystem and biological environment;
Welcoming and supporting the proposal by the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research to establish a multi-disciplinary pan-Antarctic observing system, which will, in collaboration with others, coordinate long-term monitoring and sustained observation in the Antarctic;
Recommend that the Parties:
1. urge national Antarctic programmes to maintain and extend long-term scientific monitoring and sustained observations of environmental change in the physical, chemical, geological and biological components of the Antarctic environment;
2. contribute to a coordinated Antarctic observing system network initiated during the IPY in cooperation with SCAR, CCAMLR, WMO, GEO and other appropriate international bodies;
3. support long-term monitoring and sustained observations of the Antarctic environment and the associated data management as a primary legacy of the IPY, to enable the detection, and underpin the understanding and forecasting of the impacts of environmental and climate change.
