The even further Great South Land
From 1911-1912, the great race to the South Pole made Roald Amundsen a hero. Englishman Robert Falcon Scott and his four colleagues, in second place just five weeks after the Norwegian, lost their lives after perishing on the return journey.
In 2019, the heroic explorers of yesteryear are the scientists of today.
Tasmania’s Capital City is hosting CCAMLR-38; The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) established by international convention in 1982 with the objective of conserving Antarctic marine life.
Twenty-five States and the European Union are signatories including Australia.
CCAMLR-38 will meet in Hobart for the next two weeks with officials discussing matters such as the status of Krill, non-target catches and ecosystem impacts of fishing operations, marine protected areas, the spatial management and impacts on the Antarctic ecosystem, and climate change.
There are times when negotiations like the protracted Brexit saga in the United Kingdom, free trade agreements between the US and China, and Russian military intervention in the Ukraine seem many worlds away with the complexity, political posturing, and enormity of decisions divorced from our everyday reality.
That is not because we lack the intellect to understand; rather, we are often sheltered from the direct impact of world events with distance to the great south land providing a buffer to the extremes of conflict, hatred, and poverty that we view on our social media feeds and television screens, and learn about in newspapers.
When I hear the acronym CCAMLR it sounds phonetically like Camelot and makes me think of King Arthur and his knights and Jackie Kennedy describing the first 1000 days of the presidency following the assassination of her husband JFK and the current US president Donald J. Trump and his personal relationships with the leaders of China and Russia.
That may read like a stream of consciousness, however the challenges faced across the globe are never as distant as we believe.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) will be the most contentious debate at CCAMLR-38. MPAs are established to protect marine life from over-fishing whilst also creating research zones for several species.
Seven MPAs conserving species and the environment in Tasmanian waters have been declared by previous state governments at places including Maria and Macquarie Islands.
In 2009 CCAMLR established the Ross Sea Region MPA, which includes areas for fishing and research. The South Orkney Island Southern Shelf MPA was also established in the same year. However, since then, additions to these important zones has proved difficult.
Australia, the US, France, and New Zealand all agree that there should be a network of MPAs in Antarctica to balance commercial fishing with conservation. Not surprisingly, other signatories including China, Japan, and Russia do not agree with expansion of Marine Protected Areas.
And that’s where it becomes complicated with deliberations in Hobart influenced by world events and world leaders.
Last Thursday, US Vice-President Mike Pence slammed China in support of Hong Kong. "We stand with you; we are inspired by you. We urge you to stay on the path of non-violent protest," he said in a speech.
Negative comments by world leaders regarding Russia’s military intervention in the Ukraine or China declaring that their students are not safe in some western democracies add to a cocktail of misunderstanding and difficultly when deliberating at an international event such as CCAMLR-38.
Further, while many countries negotiate purely based upon the science, this may not be the same for nations who disagree and look to world issues when formulating their views with any offence taken adding to the challenge of finding consensus and agreement.
Tasmania will be the world’s centre stage for two weeks. The CCAMLR Secretariat along with the Australian Antarctic Division, CSIRO, IMAS, and the icebreaker Aurora Australis soon to be replaced by the billion-dollar Nuyina (Southern Lights) find their home in Tasmania. Local businesses, particularly on the North West Coast, with unparalleled technical expertise will watch decisions closely as they have the potential to impact future investment and jobs.
CCAMLR, Camelot, and Hobart are not worlds apart. And while it is easy to say yet far more difficult to execute, let’s hope that complex deliberations lead to long-term sustainable outcomes for the continent of Antarctica and not a race to the bottom.