Antarctica A fragile environment? LO: To know the impacts and threats of Tourism in Antarctica To be able to evaluate management methods of tourism in Antarctica Prep – due Friday Leaflet / target

List as many impacts of tourism in Antarctic as you can think of (2 mins)

What are the impacts on Antarctica? Can it cope? 1.Tour ships get bigger and increase the risk of accidents. In the past 2 years, 6 vessels have gone aground. 2.Oil spills from crashes such as the supply ship Bahai Paraiso. 3.Disturbed wildlife (penguins), 4.Litter, 5.Slow growing moss beds 6.Stolen historic items or geological souvenirs. 7.The presences of tourists can disrupt research activity and put demands on staff who are not responsible for tourists. 8.The increase of tourism in the Antarctic creates the need for more planes and boats to reach the land. These planes and boats in turn create environmental risks, mainly pollution. 9.With more tourists visiting Antarctica the reputation of the continent as being pristine and exotic wilderness reduces.

How can we manage tourism in Antarctica? a)Get in groups – number 1’s / 2’s / 3’s / 4’s / 5’s b)Within your group you will all represent the same group of people – discuss together and come up with 2 rules that you might enforce to protect Antarctica c)When instructed ! Then move to your allocated Letter Group as on your hand out and you will then discuss and take it in turns to share your rules for protecting Antarctica from the different groups of people d) At the end you should have a list of 10 rules that will reduce the impacts of tourism.

IAATO team Role 1.Conservation Scientist -Wants to preserve Antarctica as the world’s last wilderness and study wild animals and ecosystems. -Worried about how fragile the area is and how fast it is changing with climate change. 2. Lawyer & financial advisor - Deals with laws between countries and how much things cost - The 1961 treaty is for 46 countries so is very complicated. 3. Tour operator to Antarctica -Concerned with maintaining and growing the tourist numbers from 50,000. -Wants people to come along to experience this extreme environment. 4. Air force/Navy officer from Antarctic country -Doesn’t want to risk men and ships saving unprepared tours in dangerous weather and seas without compensation. 5. Archaeologist - Wants to preserve the exploration history of Captain Scott and the early explorers.

Is Antarctica coping well with the impact of tourists? But tourist numbers are getting bigger (______ in 2009). What improvements would you make? What they have done?GradeMy opinion of how good this is? Tell the national governments that a trip is going ahead. Take all human waste and rubbish back Captains of ships need to train for a month in how to cope with southern ocean seas Cannot visit SSSIs – special sites of scientific interest – eg Bird Island, South Georgia You cannot go to Antarctica without a permit (you prove you will not impact) Ships limited to 500 passengers Any trips to Scott’s hut, have to have a government person to make sure they treat it well

Points for Discussion Why do we need to manage tourism? (use egs from other parts of the world) Do you agree with their current policies in Antarctica? (in your role as a member of the IAATO team) What have you learnt today about dealing with conflict in a group? What is going to happen to Antarctica in the future?

Exam Question – Prep – Due next Thursday 25 th Using an extreme tourism location (ANTARCTICA) describe the extent to which it can cope with the impacts of tourism (8 marks) -Discuss impacts and strategies -3 well developed points / explained = 8 marks