SCAR XXXVII Paper 09: Integrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation (Ant-ICON) Popular

XXXVII SCAR Delegates Meeting
5-7 September 2022, Goa, India

SCAR XXXVII Paper 09: Integrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation (Ant-ICON)

Agenda Item: 4.1.2
Person Responsible: Mercedes Santos
Report Authors: Mercedes Santos, Daniela Liggett, Aleks Terauds, Bettine van Vuuren, Alvaro Soutullo, Jilda Caccavo, Kevin A. Hughes, Jasmine Lee, Andrew Lowther, Daniela Liggett, Adrian Howkins, Stephen Chignell, Natasha Gardiner, Neil Gilbert and Hyoung Chul Shin

Summary

Focussing on key areas of interest to the CEP and SC-CAMLR, Ant-ICON aims to contribute transdisciplinary policy-relevant research that (a) examines the current state and future projections of Antarctic ecosystems, species and functions, (b) studies human activities in terms of their impact, (c) explores socio-ecological connectivity and alternative approaches to Antarctic and Southern Ocean conservation, and (d) offers a synthesis of key research results for the purposes of environmental governance and policy development.

Since 2021, Ant-ICON has established a functioning administrative structure with a Steering Committee consisting of the leads and co-leads of the individual research themes, and have had regular meetings to ensure the sharing of information and collaboration in the organisation of Ant-ICON activities. The latter included a series of community workshops and the development of a fellowship scheme to build capacity and increase the policy literacy of ECRs. Ant-ICON has also contributed policy papers to the 2022 ATCM and has had a range of cutting-edge research outputs. Ant-ICON has had a prominent presence at the SCAR OSC 2022, and plans to hold a cross-theme workshop in 2023.

We request that the Delegates approve a leadership change (which has already been approved by the SCAR Executive), with Aleks Terauds stepping down as one of the Chief Officers and Daniela Liggett stepping into this role.