Research and studies
The environmental impact of commercial tourism on Antarctic ecosystems
Institution: The Autonomous
University of Barcelona (UAB)
and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) (UAM)
Coordinators: Martí Boada Juncá
and Javier Benayas del Álamo
Period: 2008
Antarctica was the last continent to be discovered and is the least explored though it draws an ever-increasing number of visitors. Tourism has gone beyond being an everyday part of life; rather, along with fishing it constitutes one of the foremost commercial activities in the region. In order to coincide with the International Polar Year 2007-2009 the abertis foundation has tried to ascertain whether tourism, which in 2008 drew more than 34,000 to Antarctica, has a major negative bearing on the continent’s ecosystems.
The study identified a number of factors meaning it was “paramount to seek new solutions” to mitigate the environmental impact of tourism in Antarctica. The strong rate of growth in commercial tourism, the ineffectiveness of the environmental impact assessment procedure conducted thus far by the tourism industry, the increase in environmental risks owing to the use of cruise vessels carrying an excess number of passengers and the lack of a suitable statutory framework all have an impact on a continent for which the consequences could be devastating unless the situation is brought under control.
As an alternative, the study proposes setting up a system in Antarctica that may constitute an example of sustainable ecotourism throughout the world. To do so, the proposals raised in the study include the call for developing new legal instruments regulating the commercial activities unfolded, which may culminate in a Convention for the Regulation of Antarctic Tourism.
