The 46th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting and the 26th meeting of its main working body, the Committee for Environmental Protection, has started their work in India. The event was joined by about 400 delegates from 56 countries, including Ukraine, represented by the National Antarctic Scientific Center.
What issues will be discussed?
Traditionally, it will be about:
- ensuring the implementation of the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty and the Protocol on Environmental Protection by all Antarctic Treaty Parties;
- expansion of international scientific cooperation as well as safety and operations in Antarctica.
In addition, new challenges facing the icy continent will be discussed:
- how to respond to the intensification of marine tourism in Antarctica following the end of the coronavirus pandemic. The parties decided to launch a special Working Group to develop a strategic framework to regulate Antarctic tourism;
- how to respond to alarming findings from scientists about the record low sea ice areas in Antarctica and the increasing impact of shrinking ice shelves on rising ocean levels. We already wrote that last year the water area near Ukrainian Akademik Vernadsky station was not covered with ice at all. This has led to problems for the Antarctic fauna, in particular affecting the breeding success of Weddell seals;
- what should be done to stop the spread of bird flu in Antarctica, which has killed thousands of penguins (fortunately, such cases have not yet been recorded at our station).
The Ukrainian delegation will continue to inform other participants about the main challenges faced by the national Antarctic program in the context of a full-scale Russian military invasion. It is also planned to continue the multilateral consultations started in 2022 with the delegations of allied countries of Ukraine regarding countering Russian aggression.
Separately, NASC representatives will talk about scientific, logistics and environmental activities carried out in the Vernadsky station area over the past year, and will negotiate on expanding bilateral cooperation.
The ATCM results will be reported after its completion.
The information was provided by the head International scientific and technical cooperation department, NASC, Andrii Fedchuk.