You are in: Home » Communication & Education » Notes from the President
Notes from the SCAR President, number 39 (4 July 2011)
XXXIV Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting
Colleagues,
In my last Note I stated I intended to raise some of the issues being considered by your Executive Committee at its meeting this month (July 2011) in the next few notes. Unfortunately with extensive travel and numerous meetings, I was unable to fulfill this promise! However, most of the ExCom documents are now posted in the "Members Only" section of the SCAR website and I ask that you take a look at the items to be considered and communicate any input you might wish to provide to the deliberations.
One of my travel commitments was attendance at the XXXIV ATCM in Buenos Aires. I attach a draft report on the ATCM assembled by the Executive Director. As usual, SCAR had a busy two weeks at the Treaty meeting! Argentina once again provided an excellent venue and great hospitality during our stay (I am beginning to feel quite at home in Buenos Aires!). The occasion included the celebration of several important anniversaries including 50 years since the coming into force of the Treaty (1961), 20 years since the adoption of the Madrid Protocol (1991), and 100 years since Amudsen and Scott began their historic treks to the South Pole (1911). There were many receptions and much toasting to these occasions! We also had the opportunity to visit the new offices of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat and were impressed by their much larger and more modern facilities. Yves Frenot (France) did an excellent job managing the quite extensive workload of the Committee on Environmental Protection.
Mike has produced a comprehensive draft report and I will not recount all of the items here but refer you to the report. Suffice it to say SCAR was very visible and referred to often during the ATCM deliberations. The SCAR scientific advisory workload continues to be extensive with two Working Papers (WPs) and nine Information Papers (IPs) provided to ATCM XXXIV. I was honored to present the SCAR ATCM Science Lecture on environmental monitoring. The lecture was well attended. Your treaty team also took the opportunity to meet with CCAMLR, COMNAP and other Parties in the margins of the meeting, helping to improve and cement our working relationship with partner organizations.
Looking forward to next year in Hobart and ATCM XXXV, SCAR agreed to provide advice on a wide range of topics, including continued updates of the climate report and the ATME on climate, moderation of a discussion of a SCAR IP on non-native introductions in food stuffs, update the SCAR report on the science of marine acoustics, provide assistance on an ASPA being prepared by the US, report on ocean acidification (in 2 years), and discuss support for an international polar decade in the SCAR community.
I was impressed by the high level participation of SCAR leadership in the ATCM beyond the SCATS team. Most of SCAR's Executive Committee was in attendance as members of their national delegations and often played important roles in the discussions including YD Kim (Korea), R Ravindra (India), and S Marenssi (Argentina). There were many other active SCAR scientists and researchers at the meeting suggesting an unprecedented level of SCAR member involvement in National Antarctic Programs and the Antarctic Treaty System. This level of involvement beyond SCAR ensures that SCAR is closely aligned with Antarctic Treaty Parties/National Programs and that SCAR has high visibility amongst its members.
All for now, I will provide a summary of the Executive Committee Meeting in a few weeks to keep you up-to-date on recent developments. I hope that this note finds you well!
Chuck K.
President of SCAR
About Acrobat/PDF files