Paris Climate Summit - A Missed Opportunity

 

As the annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) closed today in the Bulgarian capital, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) called the meeting’s adoption of a resolution on climate change a “missed opportunity” to have a meaningful impact in the run up to COP21 climate summit in Paris.

The ATCM, the governing organization for the world’s seventh continent, agreed to a resolution encouraging national Antarctic scientific programmes to work with the international scientific community on the best ways to promote Antarctic climate change research in support COP21 objectives and to support national Antarctic programmes to carry out ambitious science to improve understanding of climate change impacts on the Antarctic environment and ecosystems.

However, ASOC had urged Parties to the Antarctic Treaty to take a much more active role in communicating with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“While we welcome adoption of a resolution on climate change science by the ATCM, we are disappointed that Antarctic Treaty countries have wasted this opportunity to deliver an urgent and unequivocal message on the global threats posed by Antarctic climate change to this December's COP21 meeting in Paris”, said ASOC Executive Director Mark Epstein. “Just this week G7 leaders agreed to decarbonise the global economy by the end of the century, yet the ATCM tip-toed around the issue, despite Antarctica and the Southern Oceans being ground zero for climate change.”

“Antarctica is already undergoing rapid change; its melting ice shelves and warming oceans will have grave repercussions for interconnected climates systems and global sea levels”, continued Epstein. “The Antarctic community must use its vast knowledge and expertise to not only learn more about the global consequences of Antarctic climate change, but also to contribute to persuading COP21 delegates to agree to dramatic cuts in carbon emissions from human activity.”

The ATCM made little or no environmental progress other issues such as tourism and protected areas. Despite a recent peer-reviewed, scientific article [3] which labeled Antarctica’s current terrestrial protected areas system “inadequate, unrepresentative, and at risk”, the ATCM proposed no new protected areas during the meeting, although the United Kingdom and Czech Republic announced plans to propose areas that would promote climate resilience next year.

ASOC’s Secretariat Director Claire Christian noted, “Antarctica’s protected areas system needs to be dramatically expanded to conserve biodiversity. We applaud the United Kingdom and Czech Republic’s work, but other ATCM countries must follow suit if we are to achieve comprehensive protection of the entire Antarctic continent.”

In its role as the representative of global environmental NGOs at the ATCM, ASOC presented six papers, including on climate change and protected areas.