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Notes from the SCAR President, number 48 (29 June 2012)
XXXV ACTM and Other Items
Colleagues,
Just a quick Note to let you know that SCAR had an excellent year at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Shepherded by the able leadership of Dr Steven Chown, SCAR submitted a range of important Working (5) and Information papers (7) to the ATCM. The SCAR Delegation as usual was headed by Mike Sparrow, SCAR's Executive Director. This year the Delegation was supplemented with additional expertise by Dr. Phil O'Brien (anthropogenic noise in the Southern Ocean and tsunami risks in Antarctica) and Dr. Louis Newman (Southern Ocean Observing System) both of Australia. In addition to these topics; alien introductions to Antarctica, Antarctic eco-region delineation as a basis for area protection, the initial Antarctic Conservation Strategy, the concept of an Environmental Data Portal, and a brief update and plan for the future of the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment report (and a climate communications plan) were well received and roundly praised by the Treaty parties. Dr. Alex Terauds provided an excellent SCAR Treaty Science Lecture on alien introductions and mitigation efforts that was also very warmly received and praised. I also note that several of these papers were jointly submitted with Australia, New Zealand, IUCN and COMNAP illustrating SCAR's strong and improving partnerships with others. These papers can be found on the XXXV ATCM Papers page of the website.
Despite my best efforts, I have been unable to find time to raise a number of issues that we will be addressing in Portland in a few weeks. However, many papers for the SSG Business Meetings and the Delegates Meetings are posted to the Members only website and I hope you have been keeping abreast of them. Please note that two major issues, an increase in membership fees and approval of the next set of Scientific Research Programs, will occur early in the meeting in closed plenary session. These decisions must be made early to allow the Finance Committee to construct biennial budgets that will need to be approved by the end of the meetings.
You have been, and continue to be, provided with extensive information on the membership fee increase. I hope that we can quickly come to an agreement on the fee levels for the next several years. Our starting point on this issue will be the status of the agreed Resolution from 2010 --- "Delegates agree the need for an increase in contributions of up to 20% in 2013 based on a business case that SCAR will provide for Delegates to take to their funding agencies." I will lead these discussions, and it is my expectation that roll-call votes may be necessary to accurately gauge the wishes of the Delegates on this important issue.
Secondly, we will move quickly to consider approval of the new SRPs being proposed. The proponents will present the cases for the programs and ample time is set aside for discussion. At the conclusion of the discussion it is my intention to ask the Delegates to approve the set of proposed SRPs as a single package of integrated programs rather than individually (with whatever improvements are suggested by the reviews) and task the finance committee to develop a budget to fund the portfolio (obviously finances are dependent on the outcome of the membership fee discussions). The proposals, the reviews, and the proponents' response to review are mostly on the website or will be shortly. Please make sure that you have reviewed these and are ready for the discussion in Portland so we can make an informed decision on SCAR's next generation of major scientific programs.
Planning for Portland is reaching a crescendo! Everything is going relatively smoothly though we have encountered the usual unexpected problems and issues but everyone is working very hard to ensure a successful set of meetings. Preparing for these meetings is becoming quite complex and time consuming, especially for the SCAR Secretariat!
This will be the last Note from me until we meet in Portland, so I wish you safe travels and I look forward to seeing everyone in just a few short weeks in beautiful Portland, Oregon! As always, do not hesitate to contact me if any issues arise between now and then, see you soon.
Chuck K.,
President of SCAR
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