antarctica tourism environmental impact

More than 100,000 tourists will head to Antarctica this summer. Should we worry about damage to the ice and its ecosystems?

More than 100,000 tourists are heading to Antarctica this summer via cruise ship. Image:  Unsplash/James Eades

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Can seng ooi, carolyn philpott, hanne nielsen.

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Stay up to date:.

• Visitor numbers to Antarctica have grown more than 40% since the COVID summer of 2020-21.
• Tourism in Antarctica has environmental impacts, including the release of black carbon from cruise ship funnels and the potential for the introduction of invasive species.
• As Antarctic tourism booms, some advocacy organisations have warned the impact may be unsustainable.
• The Antarctic Treaty System signed by countries with an Antarctic presence or interest ensures tour operators based in those nations have to follow stringent environmental regulations.

As the summer sun finally arrives for people in the Southern Hemisphere, more than 100,000 tourists will head for the ice. Travelling on one of more than 50 cruise ships, they will brave the two-day trip across the notoriously rough Drake Passage below Patagonia, destined for the polar continent of Antarctica.

During the COVID summer of 2020-21, just 15 tourists on two yachts visited Antarctica. But now, tourism is back – and bigger than ever. This season’s visitor numbers are up more than 40% over the largest pre-pandemic year .

So are all those tourists going to damage what is often considered the last untouched wilderness on the planet? Yes and no. The industry is well run. Tourists often return with a new appreciation for wild places. They spend a surprisingly short amount of time actually on the continent or its islands.

But as tourism grows, so will environmental impacts such as black carbon from cruise ship funnels. Tourists can carry in microbes, seed and other invasive species on their boots and clothes – a problem that will only worsen as ice melt creates new patches of bare earth. And cruise ships are hardly emissions misers.

How did Antarctic tourism go mainstream?

In the 1950s, the first tourists hitched rides on Chilean and Argentinian naval vessels heading south to resupply research bases on the South Shetland Islands. From the late 1960s, dedicated icebreaker expedition ships were venturing even further south. In the early 1990s, as ex-Soviet icebreakers became available, the industry began to expand – about a dozen companies offered trips at that time. By the turn of this century, the ice continent was receiving more than 10,000 annual visitors: Antarctic tourism had gone mainstream.

What does it look like today?

Most Antarctic tourists travel on small “expedition-style” vessels, usually heading for the relatively accessible Antarctic Peninsula. Once there, they can take a zodiac boat ride for a closer look at wildlife and icebergs or shore excursions to visit penguin or seal colonies. Visitors can kayak, paddle-board and take the polar plunge – a necessarily brief dip into subzero waters.

For most tourists, accommodation, food and other services are provided aboard ship. Over a third of all visitors never stand on the continent.

Those who do set foot on Antarctica normally make brief visits, rather than taking overnight stays.

For more intrepid tourists, a few operators offer overland journeys into the continent’s interior, making use of temporary seasonal camp sites. There are no permanent hotels, and Antarctic Treaty nations recently adopted a resolution against permanent tourist facilities.

As tourists come in increasing numbers, some operators have moved to offer ever more adventurous options such as mountaineering, heli-skiing, underwater trips in submersibles and scuba diving.

Is Antarctic tourism sustainable?

As Antarctic tourism booms, some advocacy organisations have warned the impact may be unsustainable. For instance, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition argues cruise tourism could put increased pressure on an environment already under significant strain from climate change.

In areas visited most by tourists, the snow has a higher concentration of black carbon from ship exhaust, which soaks up more heat and leads to snow melt. Ship traffic also risks carrying hitchhiking invasive species into the Southern Ocean’s vulnerable marine ecosystems.

That’s to say nothing of greenhouse gas emissions. Because of the continent’s remoteness, tourists visiting Antarctica have a higher per capita carbon footprint than other cruise-ship travellers.

Of course, these impacts aren’t limited to tourism. Scientific expeditions come with similar environmental costs – and while there are far fewer of them, scientists and support personnel spend far more time on the continent.

Antarctic tourism isn’t going away – so we have to plan for the future

Are sustainable cruises an oxymoron? Many believe so .

Through its sheer size, the cruise industry has created mass tourism in new places and overtourism in others, generating unacceptable levels of crowding, disrupting the lives of residents, repurposing local cultures for “exotic” performances, damaging the environment and adding to emissions from fossil fuels.

In Antarctica, crowding, environmental impact and emissions are the most pressing issues. While 100,000 tourists a year is tiny by global tourism standards – Paris had almost 20 million in 2019 – visits are concentrated in highly sensitive ecological areas for only a few months per year. There are no residents to disturb (other than local wildlife), but by the same token, there’s no host community to protest if visitor numbers get too high.

Even so, strong protections are in place. In accordance with the Antarctic Treaty System – the set of international agreements signed by countries with an Antarctic presence or an interest – tourism operators based in those nations have to apply for permits and follow stringent environmental regulations .

To avoid introducing new species, tourists have to follow rules such as disinfecting their boots and vacuuming their pockets before setting foot on the ice, and keeping a set distance from wildlife.

Almost all Antarctic cruise owners belong to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, the peak body that manages Antarctic tourism.

For the first time this year, operators have to report their overall fuel consumption as part of IAATO’s efforts to make the industry more climate-friendly. Some operators are now using hybrid vessels that can run partly on electric propulsion for short periods, reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Returning from the ice: the ambassador effect

Famed travel writer Pico Iyer recently wrote of his experience in the deep south of the world. The visit, he said, “awakens you to the environmental concerns of the world … you go home with important questions for your conscience as well as radiant memories”.

Iyer isn’t alone. This response is widespread, known in the industry as Antarctic ambassadorship . As you’d expect, this is strongly promoted by tourism operators as a positive.

Is it real? That’s contentious. Studies on links between polar travel and pro-environmental behaviour have yielded mixed results . We are working with two operators to examine the Antarctic tourist experience and consider what factors might feed into a long-lasting ambassador effect.

If you’re one of the tourists going to Antarctica this summer, enjoy the experience – but go with care. Be aware that no trip south comes without environmental cost and use this knowledge to make clear-eyed decisions about your activities both in Antarctica and once you’re safely back home.

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The Last Place on Earth Any Tourist Should Go

Take Antarctica off your travel bucket list.

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This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic , Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here.

On the southernmost continent, you can see enormous stretches of wind-sculpted ice that seem carved from marble, and others that are smooth and green as emerald. You can see icebergs, whales, emperor penguins. Visitors have described the place as otherworldly, magical, and majestic. The light, Jon Krakauer has said, is so ravishing, “you get drugged by it.”

Travelers are drawn to Antarctica for what they can find there—the wildlife, the scenery, the sense of adventure—and for what they can’t: cars, buildings, cell towers. They talk about the overwhelming silence. The Norwegian explorer Erling Kagge called it “the quietest place I have ever been.” All of these attractions are getting harder to find in the rest of the world. They’re disappearing in Antarctica too. The continent is melting; whole chunks are prematurely tumbling into the ocean. And more people than ever are in Antarctica because tourism is on a tear.

Four decades ago, the continent saw only a few hundred visitors each summer. More than 100,000 people traveled there this past season, the majority arriving on cruises. In the context of a land this size, that number may not sound like a lot. It’s roughly the capacity of Michigan Stadium, or about the attendance of the CES tech conference back in January.

But it’s also a record—and a 40 percent jump over 2019–20, the season before the coronavirus pandemic brought Antarctic travel to a near standstill. And although scientists who visit the continent to study its life and demise have a clear place here, many sightseers bring a whiff of “last-chance tourism”—a desire to see a place before it’s gone, even if that means helping hasten its disappearance. Perversely, the climate change that imperils Antarctica is making the continent easier to visit; melting sea ice has extended the cruising season. Travel companies are scrambling to add capacity. Cruise lines have launched several new ships over the past couple of years. Silversea’s ultra-luxurious Silver Endeavour is being used for “fast-track” trips—time-crunched travelers can save a few days by flying directly to Antarctica in business class.

Overtourism isn’t a new story. But Antarctica, designated as a global commons, is different from any other place on Earth. It’s less like a too-crowded national park and more like the moon, or the geographical equivalent of an uncontacted people. It is singular, and in its relative wildness and silence, it is the last of its kind. And because Antarctica is different, we should treat it differently: Let the last relatively untouched landscape stay that way.

Traveling to Antarctica is a carbon-intensive activity. Flights and cruises must cross thousands of miles in extreme conditions, contributing to the climate change that is causing ice loss and threatening whales, seals, and penguins. By one estimate, the carbon footprint for a person’s Antarctic cruise can be roughly equivalent to the average European’s output for a year, because cruise ships are heavy polluters and tourists have to fly so far. Almost all travel presents this problem on some level. But “this kind of tourism involves a larger carbon footprint than other kinds of tourism,” says Yu-Fai Leung, a professor in the College of Natural Resources at North Carolina State University who has done extensive research on Antarctic travel.

Antarctic tourism also directly imperils an already fragile ecosystem. Soot deposits from ship engines accelerate snow melting. Hikes can damage flora that take well over a decade to regrow in the harsh environment. Humans risk introducing disease and invasive species. Their very presence, North Carolina State scientists have shown, stresses out penguins, and could affect the animals’ breeding. Yet as tourism gets more popular, companies are competing to offer high-contact experiences that are more exciting than gazing at glaciers from the deck of a ship. Last year, for instance, a company named White Desert opened its latest luxury camp in Antarctica. Its sleeping domes, roughly 60 miles from the coast, are perched near an emperor-penguin colony and can be reached only by private jet. Guests, who pay at least $65,000 a stay, are encouraged to explore the continent by plane, Ski-Doos, and Arctic truck before enjoying a gourmet meal whose ingredients are flown in from South Africa.

All of this adds up. A recent study found that less than a third of the continent is still “pristine,” with no record of any human visitation. Those untouched areas don’t include Antarctica’s most biodiverse areas; like wildlife—and often because of wildlife—people prefer to gather in places that aren’t coated in ice. As more tourists arrive, going deeper into the continent to avoid other tourists and engage in a wider range of activities, those virgin areas will inevitably shrink.

The international community has banned mining on the continent, and ships aren’t allowed to use heavy fuel oil in its waters. Yet tourism is still only loosely regulated. “I think it’s fair to say the rules are just not good enough,” Tim Stephens, a professor at the University of Sydney who specializes in international law, told me. There’s no single central source of governance for tourism. The Antarctic Treaty System imposes broad environmental restrictions on the continent. Individual governments have varying laws that regulate operators, ships, and aircraft. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators has extensive guidelines it requires its members to follow, out of genuine concern and, perhaps, to ward off more rigorous outside regulation.

Gina Greer, IAATO’s executive director, says the organization is proactive about protecting Antarctica. Visitors are asked to keep a distance from wildlife, decontaminate their shoes to keep novel bugs and bacteria at bay, stay on established paths, and more. Because tour operators visit the same sites repeatedly, they can spot changes in the landscape or wildlife populations and notify scientists.

This spring, IAATO added a new slow zone—an area where ships have to reduce their speed to 10 knots because whales have been congregating there in greater numbers—to those implemented in 2019. “It’s amazing to see how members come together and make decisions that may be difficult but are necessary,” Greer told me.

Still, these are all essentially voluntary behaviors. And some operators don’t belong to IAATO.

Accidents also have a way of happening despite the best intentions. In 2007, the MS Explorer, a 250-foot expedition cruise ship, sank near penguin breeding grounds on the South Shetland Islands, leaving behind a wreck and a mile-long oil slick. Most cruise ships are registered in what Stephens calls “flag-convenient countries” that are lax on oversight. “If you have a cruise ship going down in Antarctica, it’s not going to be the same seriousness as the Exxon Valdez,” he said. “But it’s not going to be pretty.”

To reduce crowding and environmental pressure, modern-day tourists have been asked to think twice about visiting a slew of alluring places: Venice, Bali, Big Sur. But the calculus can get complicated—in almost any destination, you have locals who are trying to improve (or just sustain) their lot.

Most of the Maldives, for instance, lies just a meter above sea level. “Climate change is an existential threat,” Aminath Shauna, the minister of environment, climate change, and technology, said in an interview with the IMF in 2021. “There’s no higher ground we can run to.”

Within decades, the decadent overwater bungalows that the islands are known for could be underwater bungalows. But more than a quarter of the country’s GDP comes from tourism. So this year, the Maldives hopes to welcome 1.8 million tourists—all of whom can reach it only by plane or boat rides that indirectly contribute to rising seas.

That conflict doesn’t exist in Antarctica. With no human residents, it’s the rare place that still belongs to nature, as much as that’s possible. It is actually most valuable to us when left wild, so that it can continue to act as a buffer against climate change, a storehouse of the world’s fresh water, and a refuge for birds, whales, seals, fish, and even the krill that the entire marine ecosystem depends on.

Some argue that tourists become ambassadors for the continent—that is, for its protection and for environmental change. That’s laudable, but unsupported by research, which has shown that in many cases Antarctic tourists become ambassadors for more tourism.

Antarctica doesn’t need ambassadors; it needs guardians. Putting this land off-limits would signify how fragile and important—almost sacred—it is. Putting it at risk to give deep-pocketed tourists a sense of awe is simply not worth it.

We have more than a continent—or even our planet—at stake. The treaties that govern Antarctica helped lay the foundation for space agreements. Space is already crowded and junked up with human-made debris. Tourism will only add to the problem; experts are warning that it is intensely polluting and could deplete the ozone layer. If we can’t jointly act to put Antarctica off limits, our view of the moon may eventually be marred. Imagine a SpaceX–branded glamping resort, or a Blue Origin oasis stocked entirely by Amazon’s space-delivery business.

As a species, we’re not very good at self-restraint (see: AI). And these days, few arenas exist where individual decisions make a difference. Antarctica could be one of them. Maybe, despite our deepest impulses to explore, we can leave one place in the world alone.

This story is part of the Atlantic Planet series supported by HHMI’s Science and Educational Media Group.

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Tourism in Antarctica: Edging Toward the (Risky) Mainstream

Travel to one of the most remote parts of the planet is booming. What does that mean for the environment and visitor safety?

By Paige McClanahan

In January, the Coral Princess, a ship with 2,000 berths and a crew of nearly 900, plowed through the frigid waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, cruising past icebergs, glaciers and mountains clad in snow. The cruise, which had been advertised at less than $4,000 per person, is remarkably cheaper than most Antarctic expeditions, which often charge guests at least three times that amount for the privilege of visiting one of the wildest parts of the planet. Visitors to the region — and the ships that carry them — are growing in number: Antarctica, once accessible only to well-funded explorers, is now edging toward the mainstream.

But managing tourism is a tricky issue in this distant region where no individual government has the power to set the rules, and the challenge is becoming more complex as Antarctica’s popularity grows. During the current austral summer, which runs from roughly November to March, visitor numbers to Antarctica are expected to rise by nearly 40 percent from the previous season. Some observers warn that such rapid growth risks imperiling visitor safety and adding pressure to this fragile region, which is already straining under the effects of climate change, commercial fishing for krill, toothfish and other species, and even scientific research.

Human activity in Antarctica falls under the governance of the Antarctic Treaty system, a model of international cooperation that dates to the Cold War era. But day-to-day management of tourism is regulated by the tour operators themselves, through a voluntary trade association that sets and enforces rules among its members. Observers agree that this system has worked well since it was set up in the 1990s, but some worry that booming tourist numbers could push the old system to a breaking point. They say that the consultative parties to the Antarctic Treaty system — governments like those of the United States, France, New Zealand, Argentina and some two dozen others — must act more quickly to manage tourism, and protect the region’s value as a wilderness.

“The bottom line for us is that there aren’t a lot of hard rules governing tourism. It’s mostly voluntary,” said Claire Christian, executive director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), a network of more than 15 conservation groups that serves as an observer to the Antarctic Treaty system. “Right now, there is a lot of good will. But that’s not something you can guarantee.”

A booming industry

Tourism in the Antarctic began with a trickle in the 1950s, but the industry remained exclusive and expensive. Expeditions grew steadily and by the late 1980s, a handful of companies were offering sea- and land-based trips. In 1991, seven private tour operators came together to form the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). Among other things, the group’s aims were to promote “environmentally safe and responsible travel”; improve collaboration among its members; and create — among the operators’ paying clients — a “corps of ambassadors” who could advocate conservation of the Antarctic region after they returned home from their trips.

Visitor figures soon began to creep up, increasing from roughly 6,700 in the 1992-1993 season to nearly 15,000 by the end of that decade, according to IAATO figures. Apart from a dip after the 2008 financial crisis, numbers have risen steadily ever since. More than 56,000 tourists visited Antarctica during the 2018-2019 season. The figure for the current season is expected to rise to more than 78,500, more than double the total from a decade ago. The vast majority of visitors come by cruise ship, setting sail from ports like Ushuaia in Argentina or Punta Arenas in Chile.

Meanwhile, IAATO has been gaining an average of two to five operators every year, according to Lisa Kelley, IAATO’s head of operations. Its members now include 48 tour operators, as well as five provisional members (Princess Cruises among them) and more than 60 associates — travel agents, marketers and others that work in the industry but don’t run their own tours.

“At the end of the day, we’re all a bunch of competitors,” said Bob Simpson, vice president of expedition cruising at the luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent and a former chair of IAATO’s executive committee. “But it’s in our best interest to work together and cooperate,” he added, “to ensure this extraordinary place is protected for future generations.”

Mr. Simpson said that IAATO has been “remarkably successful” in promoting sustainable travel to the region, noting that, in his view, the education and experiences that they offer their guests outweigh the negative impact of the carbon emissions associated with the trip.

Abercrombie & Kent and other IAATO members agree to abide by the organization’s bylaws and guidelines, as well as the rules set out by the Antarctic Treaty system. These govern things like the number of passengers allowed ashore during site visits, staff-to-visitor ratios, and the amount of experience required of the crew.

The rules also stipulate that vessels — like the Coral Princess — that carry more than 500 people are not allowed to make landings; they can only “cruise” off the coast. Smaller vessel expeditions — offered by companies such as Abercrombie & Kent, Hurtigruten and Lindblad Expeditions, among others — are allowed to make landings, and their passengers might have the opportunity to disembark with guides to walk, kayak, snowshoe, or even camp or ski onshore.

Membership in IAATO remains voluntary, although all Antarctic tour operators must obtain a permit to travel in Antarctica from one of the parties to the Antarctic Treaty. For now, Ms. Kelley said, every passenger ship operating in the Antarctic is either a member or provisional member of IAATO, apart from some private yachts, defined as vessels carrying 12 or fewer passengers. She is confident that the organization is ready to accommodate the surge in tourist numbers.

“We’ve learned our lesson from the previous two big spurts of growth,” Ms. Kelley said in a recent phone interview. “We’ve really looked at our systems carefully and really worked on trying to make them as robust as we possibly can.”

Safety concerns

Other observers are less confident that rising tourist numbers are sustainable. The risks range from possible damage to sites that tourists visit to the potential growth in non-IAATO tour operators to ensuring visitor safety.

Accidents are rare, but not unheard-of. In November 2007, the MS Explorer, a Liberian-flagged vessel carrying about 100 passengers and 50 crew, cracked its hull on submerged ice, then started to take on water and list severely. Those aboard evacuated to lifeboats around 2:30 a.m., then floated in the cold for more than three hours before another ship, the cruise liner Nordnorge, rescued them. No one was killed or injured, but that was in part because of the weather.

“Within two hours after the passengers and crew were aboard the Nordnorge, the weather conditions deteriorated with gale force winds,” according to the official investigative report into the incident, which was conducted by the Liberian Bureau of Maritime Affairs. “If the Nordnorge’s speed to the scene had been reduced due to rough sea conditions, there may have been fatalities from hypothermia.”

The environment didn’t fare as well. The MS Explorer slipped beneath the waves carrying more than 55,000 gallons of oil, lubricant and petrol; two days later, an oil slick spread over an area of nearly two square miles near the site of the wreck. A Chilean naval ship passed through to try to speed up the dispersal of the fuel, but the report noted that the “oil sheen” was still visible more than a year later.

Ms. Kelley said that measures have been introduced since the Explorer incident, including the International Maritime Organization’s new “ polar code ,” which, she said, imposes “real limits on where and how vessels can operate and how new ships should be built.” Fuel tanks must now be situated away from the vessel’s hull, for example; navigation officers are required to have more experience and environmental rules have been tightened.

But as visitor numbers grow, so, too, does the risk of an accident. And while all tour operators in the Antarctic are currently IAATO members or provisional members, a status that offers them a degree of support, there is no guarantee that companies new to the region will see the value in joining the organization. If they decide to go it alone, there is nothing to stop them.

“There have been incidents, but we have always been quite lucky in the sense that maybe the weather conditions were right or there were other ships around,” said Machiel Lamers, an associate professor at the Environmental Policy Group of Wageningen University in the Netherlands. “Having a couple of thousands of passengers and crew in Antarctic waters is, of course, another thing than having a couple of hundred.”

A fragile environment

Scientists warn that the rise in tourism also increases the risk of disrupting the fragile environment. The introduction of invasive species — nonnative crabs or mussels clinging to the hull of a ship, foreign plant seeds stuck in the lining of a tourist’s parka — remains an important and ever-present threat . There is also evidence that populations of penguins and other wildlife have been disturbed by human activity in some areas. At the popular Hannah Point, there have been two reported instances of elephant seals falling off a cliff because of visitor disturbance. At other sites , historic structures have been marred by graffiti.

The Antarctic Treaty parties have drawn up “ site visitor guidelines ” for 42 of the most popular landing sites; these govern things like where ships are allowed to land, where visitors are allowed to walk, and how many landings are allowed per day. But the IAATO website lists more than 100 landing sites on the Antarctic Peninsula. Those with no guidelines in place may become more popular as tour operators try to avoid the crowds.

Pollution from ships is another concern. Although the International Maritime Organization’s polar code introduced new measures to control pollution, it still allows ships to dump raw sewage into the ocean if they are more than 12 nautical miles, roughly 13.8 miles, away from the nearest ice shelf or “fast ice” — stationary sea ice attached to the continent or grounded icebergs. It also fails to regulate discharges of “graywater,” runoff from ships’ sinks, showers and laundries that has been shown to contain high levels of fecal coliform as well as other pathogens and pollutants. Concerns about pollution are perhaps all the more worrying given the arrival of Princess Cruise Lines, which — alongside its parent company, Carnival Corporation — has been heavily fined for committing serious environmental crimes in other parts of the world.

A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises stressed in an email that the company is “committed to environmental practices that set a high standard for excellence and responsibility to help preserve the marine environment in Antarctica.” Negin Kamali, Princess Cruises’ director of public relations, added that the company meets or exceeds all regulatory requirements for Antarctica.

Fuel pollution, especially carbon emissions — is another concern, although there have been some positive steps. In 2011, the use of heavy fuel oil in the Antarctic was banned under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Today, ships in the region generally use less-polluting marine diesel, although some — like the MS Roald Amundsen , run by the Norwegian company Hurtigruten — have gone a step further, supplementing their traditional fuel with battery power. Princess Cruises is currently testing similar technologies, said Ms. Kamali.

In the background, warmer temperatures are making the entire continent more vulnerable to external threats.

“It’s important to understand that all of these impacts — climate change, fishing, tourism — are cumulative,” Cassandra Brooks, an assistant professor in environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, wrote in an email. “Given the sheer carbon footprint of Antarctic tourism, and the rapid growth in the industry, these operations will become increasingly difficult to justify.”

The way forward

Antarctic Treaty parties are aware that tourism growth will require a new approach. But it’s not clear what steps they will take, nor how quickly they will act. And reaching consensus — which is what decision-making within the Antarctic Treaty system requires — can be a slow and arduous process.

In April 2019, the government of the Netherlands hosted an informal meeting to discuss how to manage Antarctic tourism. The participants — including representatives of 17 treaty parties, IAATO and ASOC, the civil society group, as well as other experts — identified “key concerns” related to the predicted growth in ship tourism: pressure on sites where tourists visit, the expansion of tourism to new areas, and the possible rise in tour operators who choose not to join IAATO, among other issues.

The group’s recommendations were presented to the Antarctic Treaty’s Committee for Environmental Protection as well as to the most recent annual meeting of the treaty parties in July. The discussions seemed to go in the right direction, said Ms. Christian, but they are still a long way from implementing major changes.

Stronger regulations could come in many forms, including a prohibition on potentially disruptive activities such as heli-skiing or jet-skiing, both of which are currently allowed; a general strengthening of the Antarctic Treaty system’s existing guidelines for visitors , which already instruct people not to litter, take away souvenirs, or get too close to wildlife, among other things. Parties to the Antarctic Treaty system could also establish protected areas that could be made off limits to tourist vessels, or agree to enact domestic laws to enable authorities to prosecute visitors for Antarctic misbehavior (penguin cuddling, for instance) after they return home.

Or the treaty parties could go even further: They could require all passenger vessels to obtain IAATO membership before being granted a permit, or set a cap on the total number of visitors allowed each season. Most observers agree that both steps would be politically very difficult to enact, mainly because treaty parties have diverging views of what Antarctic tourism should look like.

Tour operators and some academics maintain that tourism in Antarctica is vital because it creates awareness and builds a network of people who will go home to fight for stronger protections in the region. but — as with scientific research, or any human activity in Antarctica — the risks and potential negative impacts of tourism must be weighed against its benefits.

Whatever policy steps might be on the table, self-regulation in the tourism industry is no longer sufficient, said Ms. Brooks, who adds that Antarctica is already straining under its many pressures.

“IAATO is truly amazing in what they have accomplished, but it’s difficult to imagine how they will manage to control this burgeoning industry,” she wrote in an email. “It’s equally difficult to imagine how more than 78,000 people visiting Antarctica as tourists won’t have a negative impact on the region.”

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Will Antarctica be the next victim of overtourism as visitor numbers continue to climb?

Balance between travel and preservation in world’s most remote wilderness is a fragile one.

As more travellers flock to Antarctica, the world's most protected wilderness faces an increasing conservation risk. Unsplash / Cassie Matias

Last year, for the first time, more than 100,000 tourists visited Antarctica. That figure is expected to increase in 2024.

It is in stark contrast to visitor numbers during the global pandemic when only two ships and 15 people ventured to the southern wilderness in the name of tourism .

Leslie Hsu, a freelance journalist and award-winning photographer, understands why. She had one of her most memorable holidays in the region.

She recounts a story of camping on the Kerr Point of Ronge Island, where she could hear the iceberg-laden waters of the Errera Channel lapping against the shore.

“I make my way towards the shoreline until I can hear waves striking rocks,” she tells The National . “Turning off my headlamp, I am engulfed in darkness, barely able to see my fingers in front of my face. At first, I feel exposed, vulnerable – unusual for someone who grew up camping, hiking, spelunking, climbing mountains and crossing rivers. Someone who came to Antarctica precisely to be alone with the coldest , driest, windiest, most hostile place on Earth.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Leslie Hsu Oh | Writer + Photographer + Editor (@lesliehsuoh)

“A series of glaciers calving, one after another like dominoes, ripples towards me. I feel the ground trembling. Water rushes towards me and I cringe, expecting to be swept away into the channel. After things settle down, I sit down on the soft snow. Surprisingly, I don’t feel cold at all, cosy in my wind and water-resistant parka and boots. I doze. I listen. I breathe. Out of the darkness, blacks brighten to greys. There is no sunrise, just a gradual increase in contrast.

“I hear a whale surface for air. Kelp gulls tweet a morning greeting. And just when I start to worry that maybe I shouldn't be sitting out here by myself, I see six Gentoo Penguins take form not a stone’s throw away. They are all sleeping with their necks tucked into their backs, perfectly camouflaged in the austere black and white landscape.”

It's precisely this type of once-in-a-lifetime experience that has so many travellers flocking to Antarctica.

Unique journeys across the White Continent

This polar region is roughly twice the size of Australia and 98 per cent covered in ice. It is the largest wilderness on Earth unaffected by large-scale human activities and, as the only continent without an indigenous population, it is also one of the most protected places on the planet.

Winter in Antarctica is from March until October, and when daylight hours disappear, temperatures plunge to minus 30-60°C and the physically remote destination becomes even more inhospitable. But by autumn, as the country’s unique wildlife begins to emerge from hibernation, so too do the zealous tourists.

Antarctica is also the only continent with no terrestrial mammals, but it does have millions of penguins, thousands of seals and eight different species of whale. The allure of seeing these creatures in the wild is one of the main reasons people keep coming to the remote land.

Google data comparing search traffic from 2019 to 2022 showed a 51 per cent rise in interest around Antarctica cruises, and a 47 per cent rise in interest for Arctic cruises. Other trips are on the rise, too. These include luxury travel company Black Tomato’s nine-night Antarctic adventure that sailed to the White Continent at the same time the region witnessed a rare solar phenomenon. Or Elite Expeditions' new voyage that will see travellers conquer the glacial beauty of Antarctica's Vinson Massif.

While the pause in tourism during the pandemic allowed wildlife to thrive, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators estimates that 106,000 visitors travelled to the region in the 2022-2023 tourist season, meaning those who work to protect the White Continent and its environment are wary of this increasing interest.

A wilderness that belongs to no nation

Seven countries – New Zealand, Australia, France, Norway, the UK, Chile, and Argentina – have all laid claim to different parts of Antarctica, but the destination is governed by an international partnership to which more than 56 countries have acceded, making it a wilderness that belongs to no nation.

Its tourism board is also unique. In 1991, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) was set up not to encourage more visitors, but to regulate the sector and ensure the pristine environment remains so. Since 2009, concerns about the impact of tourism on the environment have been a recurring hot topic at the continent’s annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

Several measures are already in place. As most visitors venture to the seventh continent via ship, better practices have been adopted to reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact of any cruises sailing in these waters. There are also restrictions on how many people are allowed ashore, and strict regulations for planned activities, wildlife watching, and pre and post-visit activity reporting.

These rules are carefully followed by Black Tomato on all of its voyages. “We demand the highest standards from our partners, in everything from sustainability to safety, creativity to delivery,” says Tom Marchant, co-founder of the luxury tour operator. “In Antarctica, those standards mean we only work with a small selection of hand-picked IAATO-approved operators, and have seen us advocate light-touch, small-scale experiences where we can be assured that guidelines are being followed.”

In a post-pandemic world, the tourism company sees travellers seeking one-off adventures, something Antarctica is perfectly poised to offer. “A burgeoning trend we’ve seen since the pandemic is a strong pursuit of [what we call] the 'opposite', be it a safari, the wilderness, volcanic ranges or rugged islands – the flip side of big buildings and noisy cars in everyday life,” Marchant explains.

“Now, more than ever, travellers are seeking out the world untainted by crowds and queues. A world more ancient than our own, and with deeper roots. Antarctica is a great example of where dramatic and unfamiliar landscapes offer inimitable encounters that are all about experiencing the unknown. The opposite of our own daily lives.”

Will overtourism be Antarctica's downfall?

But as a destination that has long been sheltered from mass tourism, could this recent spike in traveller interest be the continent’s downfall? Could Antarctica be on track to become overtourism’s next victim, going the way of Mount Everest, with overcrowding and environmental pollution? Or of Italy’s Venice, which constantly struggles with the impact of visitors flocking in from visiting ships?

The IAATO says it is unlikely this will happen, saying the region's strict protection protocols are its saving grace.

“Antarctica is one of the most protected locations – if not the most protected location – on Earth when it comes to managing human activity,” a representative for the organisation tells The National . “All human activity there must be authorised by a competent authority and is subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment before proceeding.

“There is still a misconception that visitors to Antarctica are permitted to explore as they like, picking up souvenirs from the coastline and disturbing wildlife. IAATO’s rigorous rules and guidelines explained and enforced by expert field staff, coupled with robust policies laid out by the Antarctic Treaty, ensures this is not the case.”

White Desert, an ultra-luxury travel operator that specialises in zero-impact trips to Antarctica, has been a member of IAATO for nearly two decades. “We take just 250 people yearly – a maximum of 12 guests per trip travel to our camps during season, which runs from mid-November until February,” says chief executive and founder Patrick Woodhead.

“We have five key steps in place to minimise our impact, including using sustainable aviation fuel , carbon offsetting, an environmentally conscious supply chain that ensures we use no single-use plastic and responsibility for waste disposal. We also use solar energy to heat our pods and minimise use of fossil fuels. And we support and contribute to both the local scientific community and the Antarctic community.”

It's common for Antarctica operators to use tourism dollars to help fund scientific research that can help the world better understand the White Continent. Viking Cruises, for example, uses both of its Antarctic ships to host scientists, wet labs and detailed research programmes, all funded by holidaymaker’s money. And Ponant uses tourism revenue to offer science expedition grants for studies in the region.

IAATO says contributions like these are “fundamental to achieving research objectives in different fields of knowledge, going from the understanding of polar tourists’ behaviour and learning to the evaluation of environmental changes in places threatened by global warming”.

But for the conservation-focused Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, the measures adopted by tour operators may not be enough.

“In the absence of a comprehensive plan for managing tourism and tourist activities, adding new trips, inland activities and off-the-beaten-path excursions in Antarctica is a risky trend,” says the NGO's executive director Claire Christian.

“Ideally, any expansion in the areas that tourists visit or diversification of activities that tourists participate in should only take place as part of a management plan that has fully considered whether these activities are consistent with the environmental protection goals of the Environment Protocol. However, right now, there is no such plan.”

A delicate balance

While the majority of people visiting the region do so on vessels and never step foot on the ice, as more travel companies go out of their way to offer unique journeys that take travellers on land, the risk to the destination increases.

No matter how regulated the industry is, if the tourists snowshoeing through Antarctica’s ice-covered wilderness don’t adhere to the same ethos, damage could be inevitable.

To pre-empt this, IAATO publishes a series of general guidelines that visitors are expected to follow. These include everything from not touching wildlife to responsibly discarding rubbish and being aware of protected areas. However, membership to the association is not compulsory and if there are 106,000 visitors heading to Antarctica in a single season, how realistic is it that every tourist’s actions can be controlled?

Hsu questioned this on her dream trip to Antarctica last year. “Hurginten Expeditions was very careful about marking all the places that travellers were allowed to hike with cones whenever we left the ship, but even though they marked it off, it wasn’t always 100 per cent clear what areas we were supposed to stay away from,” she explains.

“I did wonder if all of these people walking around were affecting the landscape. We also saw many empty research stations as we ventured across the continent and this made me wonder whether these abandoned buildings are environmentally safe.”

Some tour operators, including White Desert, believe that by offering these life-changing expeditions, they will help “create a community of Antarctic Ambassadors who will share the importance of conserving the planet for future generations”.

Hsu is a living example of this. “The first thing I did when I got home was Google 'Antarctica Ambassadors' to find out more about this collaboration of people who care passionately about Antarctica and protecting its unique landscape. I had never heard of it before and I immediately signed up.”

Despite these initiatives, a question mark hangs over how Antarctica may fare as tourism continues to rise, especially as the Antarctic treaty that preserves the continent will only remain in place until 2048. After that, any treaty party can request a review, which could lead to crucial elements being changed.

“The treaty is up for renewal in 25 years and it’s vital that it’s upheld,” says White Desert founder Woodhead. “The protocol contains a number of tools, including environmental impact assessments and protected areas, that are extremely effective. Parties simply must use them, and it is critical for Antarctica's future.”

It may not yet be on course to rival Mount Everest as one of tourism's nature playgrounds, but as of now the balance of travel and preservation in the world’s most remote wilderness remains as fragile as the ice-covered sheets that surround it.

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Environmental Impacts and Sustainable Development of Antarctic Tourism: The Chinese Tourists’ Perspectives

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• Yueyi He &
• Claire Liu  

Part of the book series: Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Instituts für Tourismusforschung ((DITF,volume 1))

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This chapter presents the findings of a study on exploring the environmental impacts brought about by Antarctic tourism and issues for developing sustainable tourism in the Antarctic. This qualitative study collected data from the Chinese social media platforms Zhihu and Mafengwo. The target samples were people who had been on an Antarctica tour and posted comments online that were relevant to the research questions. The tourists’ comments on Antarctic experiences were analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed the perceived situation and the impacts of Antarctic tourism on Antarctica, such as disturbing wildlife, increasing global warming, adding pressure caused by the popularity of Antarctic tourism. Combining secondary information and the stories shared by the Chinese tourists online, this study contributes to knowledge and understanding of the impacts of Antarctica tourism and the challenges in developing sustainable tourism in Antarctica.

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• Antarctic Tourism
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He, Y., Liu, C. (2023). Environmental Impacts and Sustainable Development of Antarctic Tourism: The Chinese Tourists’ Perspectives. In: Köchling, A., Seeler, S., van der Merwe, P., Postma, A. (eds) Towards Sustainable and Resilient Tourism Futures. Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Instituts für Tourismusforschung, vol 1. Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin. https://doi.org/10.37307/b.978-3-503-21195-1.04

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Balancing Antarctic tourism with environmental impact

June 14th, 2024 / Burnham Arlidge

Antarctic tourism has seen a significant surge, attracting adventurers and nature enthusiasts alike to the icy wilderness. The 2022-23 season marked a record high with over 100,000 visitors, driven largely by cruise ship travel.

This booming interest in one of the world's last frontiers brings with it both remarkable experiences and serious concerns about environmental impact.

The Allure of Antarctica

Antarctica's pristine, untouched landscapes and unique wildlife make it a bucket-list destination for many. Tourists are drawn by the promise of witnessing stunning ice formations, glaciers, and iconic species like penguins , whales and seals .

The journey typically begins in Ushuaia , Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, where traveller embark on a multi-day voyage across the Drake Passage to reach the Antarctic Peninsula. Environmental Concerns

Despite stringent regulations, the influx of tourists raises significant environmental concerns. The Antarctic Treaty System mandates that tour operators adhere to strict guidelines designed to minimize human impact. These include disinfecting clothing to prevent the introduction of non-native species and maintaining a safe distance from wildlife. However, the sheer volume of visitors concentrated in sensitive areas during the brief tourist season still poses risks.

Climate change exacerbates these challenges. The region is already experiencing unprecedented ice melt, which threatens the habitats of native species like the emperor penguin.

Recent discussions at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) highlighted the need for more robust conservation measures to protect these vulnerable ecosystems.

The failure to designate the emperor penguin as a Specially Protected Species, despite broad scientific support, underscores the difficulties in reaching international consensus on conservation strategies.

Economic and Social Implications

The economic benefits of Antarctic tourism are significant. Tour operators, many of whom are part of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), generate substantial revenue and create thousands of jobs.

Additionally, the concept of "Antarctic ambassadorship" is promoted, where visitors return home with a heightened awareness of environmental issues and a commitment to conservation. This transformative experience is thought to foster broader environmental advocacy and support for climate action.

However, there are also negative repercussions. The heavy carbon footprint of long-haul flights and cruise ships contributes to global emissions, which in turn affect the very environment tourists seek to appreciate. Efforts are underway to mitigate these impacts, such as the introduction of hybrid vessels that use electric propulsion to reduce emissions. Yet, the overall environmental cost remains a strong point of contention​.

Balancing Tourism and Conservation

Balancing Antarctic tourism with environmental impact 1.jpg

To balance tourism with environmental stewardship, the IAATO has implemented several measures. These include limiting the number of passengers allowed onshore at any given time, ensuring that all activities are carefully managed, and requiring operators to report fuel consumption.

Such measures aim to minimize the ecological footprint of tourism while still allowing people to experience the unique beauty of Antarctica.

Moreover, educational programs and workshops, such as those organized at the recent ATCM, are crucial. These initiatives involve local youth and emphasize the importance of preserving Antarctic biodiversity.

By fostering a sense of responsibility and connection to the region, these programs hope to cultivate the next generation of conservation advocates.

The Future of Antarctic Tourism

As interest in Antarctic tourism continues to grow, the need for sustainable practices becomes ever more critical. The tourism industry, governments, and conservation organizations must work collaboratively to ensure that the influx of visitors does not compromise the delicate ecosystems of the continent.

Strengthening regulations, promoting eco-friendly travel options, and enhancing public awareness are essential steps in this direction.

While Antarctic tourism offers unparalleled experiences and economic benefits, it also presents significant environmental challenges.

By adhering to strict guidelines, investing in sustainable practices, and fostering a global sense of environmental stewardship, it is possible to enjoy and protect this unique and fragile part of our planet for future generations.

Posted on Jun 14, 2024

About the Author Burnham Arlidge

Burnham started his career as a professional tennis player before retiring due to injury. Since then Burnham has thrown himself into adventure travel. He has visited some of the most iconic and obscure parts of the planet - his most memorable experience is Antarctica!

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Regulation on tourism, push for ‘all inclusive’ government: What happened at this year’s Antarctic Parliament

Antarctica is the world's fifth largest continent spanning 14 million sq km area. nearly 98% of antarctica is covered in thick ice sheets which hold about 75% of the earth's freshwater reserves..

Last month, India hosted the 46th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in Kochi . Voicing strong concerns about unregulated tourism in Antarctica since 2007, India, for the first time, introduced a dedicated working group for Antarctic tourism at the meeting

What were the highlights of the Kochi meet?

Some of the major highlights of this year’s Antarctic Parliament were: the push for an ‘all inclusive’ governance; the first-ever introduction to the tourism framework and the initiation of its drafting; and the announcement of the Maitri-II research station.

On matters of tourism, India had first raised concerns at the New Delhi ATCM meet way back in 2007. Operated mostly by private tour operators of select countries, Antarctica has been seeing an exponential rise in the number of visitors, and outside researchers coming there in recent years. Estimates suggest that in 2023, there were one lakh visitors to Antarctica.

Experts working in the polar sciences argued that the impact of tourism on Antarctica is not fully understood, yet. All Antarctica Treaty Parties in attendance in Kochi agreed upon the need for having a framework for tourism.

At Kochi, a resolution and an annexe were nearly worked out. Importantly, the annexe will cover the environmental liability aspect concerning activities in Antarctica. Easier said than done, the formulation of any framework is both time-consuming and lengthy, given that it covers legal, liability and many other layered aspects which cannot reach consensus from over 50 parties within a few days of the treaty meeting. In the next ATCM to be held in Italy in 2025, further deliberations on the tourism framework are expected. Once the consensus on the framework is reached, there will be stringent regulations governing tourism activities in Antarctica.

In Kochi, India announced a successor to its 35-year-old Maitri research base. The decision was welcomed positively. Now, India will get onto the drawing board and chalk out its architectural and environmental plans before the union government. Once ready, the environment report of Maitri-II will be tabled before and seek clearance from the Committee on Environment Protection. India is expected to get Maitri-II operational in the early 2030s.

At Kochi, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia became the latest entrant to the club of Antarctic Treaty Parties at the recently concluded meet. Attended by more than 400 members representing 56 countries, the ATCM-46 in Kochi also saw discussions on sea ice change, protecting the emperor penguin, enhancing environmental impact assessment of major activities and developing an international framework for environmental monitoring in Antarctica.

What was India’s message?

As followers of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam , India informed the Antarctic Parliament that it chooses to adopt an ‘all inclusive’ approach with nations, who wish to work towards preserving Antarctica and its resources. India underscored the need for opening the Antarctic Treaty to more nations and together, shoulder responsibilities for governance, research, and framing laws and policies.

India’s message was strong and clear: geopolitics from the mainland must not be a deterrent when it came to the issue of governance of Antarctica. India reminded the Consultative Parties (those with authority to vote and take decisions) at Kochi that the treaty cannot remain as an ‘exclusive club’ of select nations. Canada and Belarus have been working towards becoming Consultative Parties in the Treaty but they are yet to succeed.

Why is Antarctica important?

It is the world’s fifth largest continent spanning 14 million sq km area. Nearly 98% of Antarctica is covered in thick ice sheets which hold about 75% of the earth’s freshwater reserves. This white continent is unique for its wildlife and pristine environment. Located close to the South Pole, Antarctica experiences extreme cold, dry and windy conditions.

More importantly, under the global warming scenario, it is three poles of the Earth: the north, the south and the Himalayas, that are facing the maximum brunt. At the Kochi meet, more areas of Antarctica were earmarked as ‘protected’.

The fastened rates of permafrost thawing are also a worry at these poles. Permafrost is the rock and soil layers frozen beneath the active ice sheet. Rising temperatures have accelerated the thawing of this permafrost, which in turn exposes and causes the organic matter, like plants, to decompose. This further leads to the release of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, adding to global climate change. More geographical areas of the Antarctic have been ‘protected’ as areas previously studied by early Antarctic expeditions have been rendered unsafe due to thawing permafrost. In this year’s meeting, 17 revised and new management plans for the Antarctic Specially Protected Areas were adopted.

Another risk over Antarctica due to growing tourism and increased human presence, in general, is that of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The Kochi deliberations focused on the newest scientific findings that the air and atmosphere over  Antarctica were polluted and carried the potential risk of HPAI affecting the indigenous living creatures. The meeting underlined prescribing standard biosecurity guidelines for HPAI to eliminate and mitigate the risk to humans, as well as spreading the disease in Antarctica through human activities.

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‘The impact we have is vast’: scientists look to clean up Antarctica

Waste disposed of in the ocean, abundant microplastics and wildlife exposed to oil – the ‘pristine’ continent of ice has a trash problem

A short walk into the biting wind from Villa Las Estrellas, a tiny Chilean village on the Antarctic peninsula, there is a cove which most scientists working at nearby research stations try to ignore.

A handful of penguins shiver in the shadows of six Russian fuel tanks and three squat siloes, rusted into swirls of gold, orange and brown and warped by the cold and wind.

Out of sight and out of mind, each is stuffed with detritus from decades of scientific and logistical work on King George Island, where six scientific research stations operate within a 5km (3-mile) radius.

In one, dozens of PC keyboards are crammed into an old chest freezer, their keys stripped and mixed in with bottle tops and discarded beer cans with faded labels in Russian, German and Spanish.

At the head of the beach stands a table football set blackened by fire, while stacks of 12-volt batteries, cracked by the cold, leak a greasy slick of battery acid. Fuel seeps on to the pebble beach from a row of rusty barrels labelled gasolina .

Grimly referred to as “Chernobyl” by some who pass through Villa Las Estrellas, the dump on King George Island is an open reminder of the impact humans continue to make after a century visiting Earth’s most pristine continent.

“It’s depressing,” Basque scientist Pedro Echeveste, 41, shouts over the noise of the wind. “For all of the good scientists do in Antarctica , the impact we have is vast.”

Although the majority of waste is now packaged and sent away from Antarctica on ships, the human footprint is plain to see.

In October 1991, a protocol on environmental protection was signed in Madrid, setting out minimum standards for environmental management and reiterating that Antarctica is a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science”.

It came into force in 1998 and has been signed by all 29 consultative parties of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) which governs the continent, as well as 13 other nations.

Among its recommendations, the protocol stipulates that environmental impacts caused by any new infrastructure should be monitored regularly – although two-thirds of research stations were built before its adoption – including any disruption to habitats.

Yet enforcement is largely left up to individual scientific programmes and missions.

“Regulation is a huge problem,” said Dr Jasmine Lee, a research fellow with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) who studies the sustainability of human involvement in the far south.

“And the crux of it is geopolitical – nobody is going to turn around and tell you to take action, because there can be repercussions for something else one of the parties might be trying to get approved.”

At present, 56 nations are signatories of the ATS, and 42 of these countries have a physical presence in Antarctica. One 2019 study estimated that of Antarctica’s 12m sq km of ice and rock, the combined footprint of these bases is 390 sq km, largely around the perimeter of the continent.

And this footprint is likely to increase as more nations seek a scientific or geopolitical presence in the far south. Less than one in six of the 193 member states of the United Nations are part of the ATS, with Africa and the Middle East particularly underrepresented.

Some of the anthropogenic effects on Antarctica’s wilderness are more visible than others.

Echeveste, an academic at the University of Antofagasta in northern Chile, made his third trip to Antarctica this summer. Alongside two colleagues, Maritza Fajardo and Karola Soto, he spent more than a month on King George Island collecting water samples.

“When you see a bird carrying a plastic bottle or a container filled with old oil drums, these are the most obvious impacts – but there are so many others which have already been incorporated into food chains and ecosystems,” said Echeveste.

His team have been able to detect antifreeze and fuel residue, as well as components from sunblock and beauty products, in seawater.

And similar effects have been noted elsewhere. Last year, researchers from New Zealand found microplastics in every one of the 19 snow samples they collected on Ross Island in west Antarctica.

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Perhaps the most alarming example of a legacy of disregard for the environment is Winter Quarters Bay on the southern tip of Ross Island, where the US McMurdo station was established in 1955. Until 1981, inhabitants towed rubbish out on to the sea ice in the winter to let it fall through into the bay when the ice melted in the spring.

In 1999, one scientist declared that the bay had one of the highest toxic concentrations of any body of water on Earth. A 2001 survey counted 15 vehicles, 26 shipping containers and 603 fuel drums on 20 hectares (50 acres) of seabed.

While a tiny fraction of the Antarctic continent has been affected, human activity is frenetic in coastal areas.

“The ice-free areas of Antarctica make up less than 1% of the continent, but they concentrate almost all of the biodiversity and nearly all of the science,” said Lee.

The infrastructural footprint began with the first explorers’ huts in 1899, before whalers, seal hunters and finally scientists began to visit – and it continues to expand.

Despite calls for nations to share or reuse existing infrastructure, new stations continue to be constructed on pristine sites, and sustainability has only recently become a priority.

Some argue that there is little scientific justification for the expansion of infrastructure, with geopolitical aspirations often superseding research interests.

“Even just at the level of Chile’s presence in Antarctica, we have a lot to improve on,” said Constanza Mendoza, 29, a chemical and environmental engineer working with the water treatment systems at Chile’s Escudero base on King George Island.

This year she helped implement the first recycling scheme at the research base after a pilot programme last summer.

“It all depends on the will of each mission, and some are much less bothered about the impact we’re having on the environment than others,” she said.

While much of the infrastructure in Villa Las Estrellas is ageing, the Chilean air force base, which opened in 1969, contributes to sustainable practices with a worm-powered biofilter which breaks down organic waste the base produces.

However, generators burning 2,000 litres (530 gallons) of diesel a day provide the energy for Villa Las Estrellas, highlighting the alarming carbon cost of Antarctic science.

Others are imagining a more sustainable future.

Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth station, inaugurated in February 2009, is the only zero-emission Antarctic station, generating electricity from nine wind turbines and 284 solar panels.

Ongoing refurbishments to New Zealand’s Scott base include a replacement windfarm, and in 2018, the BAS announced its aim to reduce carbon emissions at its Antarctic stations and offices in Cambridge to net zero by 2040.

But the burden on the continent is only increasing, with more than 100,000 tourists visiting Antarctica this summer season alone – a record high.

“Today, you either need to be a scientist or very wealthy to go to Antarctica, and that isn’t fair or sustainable,” said Echeveste. “We need to think about who goes, because the impacts are only going to get more serious.”

As more people visit, the greater the chance that invasive species will be introduced, and as temperatures rise, the likelihood of them establishing themselves in the Antarctic biosphere rises with it.

Lee’s research has shown that some of the most cost-effective ways of reducing impacts on biodiversity include better planning and management for new infrastructure, but she concedes that some nations are better at following protocols than others.

“I don’t think it’s too late,” she said cautiously. “There are things we can do, like increasing biosecurity, removing non-native species as soon as possible, remediating contaminated sites and cleaning up rubbish.

“There’s a lot that can be done – it’s just the will to do it that varies.”

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Travellers urged to keep it local in the name of sustainable tourism

19 June 2024

From rolling vineyards to stunning beaches, there’s no shortage of beauty to discover in our own backyards.

A tourism expert from the University of South Australia is urging travellers to support local destinations and experiences close to home, instead of long-haul international trips, to lessen the impacts of tourism on the environment.

Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management Dr Freya Higgins-Desbiolles says we should be considering more localised travel and doing everything we can to reduce unnecessary emissions.

She says space travel, private jet travel and mass travel to remote and extreme environments such as Antarctica are “unethical” and contribute to a culture of privileged over-consumption.

“In these conditions, it is hard to justify tourism to Antarctica. We have to question our use of cruising or flights in our tourism consumption,” she says.

“We need to create a cultural shift that sees tourism consumption as a luxury to be savoured and not something we can have every year or multiple times a year, like many have come to expect in the ‘Global North’. Shifting to an appreciation of local leisure and domestic travels and lower expectations of long-haul international travel is a must.”

The ‘Global North’ i.e. northern hemisphere, is responsible for 92% of global emissions .

In a recent research , Dr Higgins-Desbiolles responds to University of Cumbria’s Professor Jem Bendell’s “deep adaptation” analysis which argues that civilisational collapse is likely or even already underway due to the continued reliance on fossil fuels and emissions, a view shared by others including naturalist David Attenborough and the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Dr Higgins-Desbiolles outlines how tourism is contributing to the depletion of natural resources, pollution, over-consumption and environmental destruction. She also reflects on the 2023 Hawaii wildfires on the island of Maui which claimed 100 lives and destroyed the town of Lahaina. Residents lacked the water resources to fight the fires due to years of overconsumption by the golf courses, hotels and tourism corporations.

She recommends travellers be more considerate with their choices of holiday destinations and reflect on the impact of their activities on the environment.

“Tourism should be defined by the local community, with decision-making controlled at the lowest level and an emphasis on the interrelationships between people, place, ecology and all living things. We need to slow down – stay longer, stay local, be thoughtful with our holiday choices,” she says.

“There are so many resources out there like Rise Travel Institute or The Travel Foundation that shed light on sustainable, responsible and just tourism.

“It’s about respecting the destination, looking out for codes of responsibility, and making yourself aware of the culture and what challenges the communities you’re visiting are facing. I encourage people to try being more conscious on their next trip – stay in one place longer, travel more slowly, go for nature walks, engage with the culture, try to leave the destination a better place than how you found it.”

Tourism Research Australia forecasts that over the next five years, domestic travel will see only moderate growth, largely due to increased competition from international outbound travel, which is set to continue to climb .

The tourism industry contributes 8% of total global carbon emissions, yet the Tourism Panel on Climate Change – an international body of climate scientists and tourism experts – focuses on profit-first climate resilient tourism, rather than addressing the contribution of the industry to environmental destruction.

Dr Higgins-Desbiolles says it’s up to everyone to make more environmentally conscious travel decisions.

“We must see all governments willing to legislate and regulate tourism better. For example, France has passed legislation banning short-haul flights – the transport method contributing the second most to emissions – when a train journey of less than 2.5 hours is available,” she says.

“Meaningful change is needed at every level: governments, organisations and travellers need to put their focus towards sustainable and climate just tourism.”

ENDS. ………………………………………………………

Media contacts:

Melissa Keogh, Communications Officer, UniSA E: [email protected] M: +61 403 659 154

Maddie Rawlings, Communications and News Support Officer, UniSA E: [email protected]

Researcher contact: Dr Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management, UniSA E: [email protected]

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Travelers urged to keep it local in the name of sustainable tourism

by University of South Australia

From rolling vineyards to stunning beaches, there's no shortage of beauty to discover in our own backyards.

A tourism expert from the University of South Australia is urging travelers to support local destinations and experiences close to home, instead of long-haul international trips, to lessen the impacts of tourism on the environment.

Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management Dr. Freya Higgins-Desbiolles says we should be considering more localized travel and doing everything we can to reduce unnecessary emissions.

She says space travel , private jet travel and mass travel to remote and extreme environments such as Antarctica are "unethical" and contribute to a culture of privileged over-consumption.

"In these conditions, it is hard to justify tourism to Antarctica. We have to question our use of cruising or flights in our tourism consumption," she says.

"We need to create a cultural shift that sees tourism consumption as a luxury to be savored and not something we can have every year or multiple times a year, like many have come to expect in the Global North. Shifting to an appreciation of local leisure and domestic travels and lower expectations of long-haul international travel is a must."

The Global North, i.e., the northern hemisphere, is responsible for 92% of global emissions.

In recent research, Dr. Higgins-Desbiolles responds to University of Cumbria's Professor Jem Bendell's "deep adaptation" analysis, which argues that civilizational collapse is likely or even already underway due to the continued reliance on fossil fuels and emissions, a view shared by others including naturalist David Attenborough and the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

The work is published in the Journal of Tourism Futures .

Dr. Higgins-Desbiolles outlines how tourism is contributing to the depletion of natural resources, pollution, over-consumption and environmental destruction. She also reflects on the 2023 Hawaii wildfires on the island of Maui that claimed 100 lives and destroyed the town of Lahaina. Residents lacked the water resources to fight the fires due to years of overconsumption by golf courses, hotels and tourism corporations.

She recommends that travelers be more considerate in their choices of holiday destinations and reflect on the impact of their activities on the environment.

"Tourism should be defined by the local community , with decision-making controlled at the lowest level and an emphasis on the interrelationships between people, place, ecology and all living things. We need to slow down—stay longer, stay local, be thoughtful with our holiday choices," she says. "There are so many resources out there like Rise Travel Institute or The Travel Foundation that shed light on sustainable, responsible and just tourism.

"It's about respecting the destination, looking out for codes of responsibility, and making yourself aware of the culture and what challenges the communities you're visiting are facing. I encourage people to try being more conscious on their next trip—stay in one place longer, travel more slowly, go for nature walks, engage with the culture, try to leave the destination a better place than how you found it."

Tourism Research Australia forecasts that over the next five years, domestic travel will see only moderate growth, largely due to increased competition from international outbound travel, which is set to continue to climb.

The tourism industry contributes 8% of total global carbon emissions, yet the Tourism Panel on Climate Change—an international body of climate scientists and tourism experts—focuses on profit-first climate-resilient tourism, rather than addressing the contribution of the industry to environmental destruction.

Dr. Higgins-Desbiolles says it's up to everyone to make more environmentally conscious travel decisions.

"We must see all governments willing to legislate and regulate tourism better. For example, France has passed legislation banning short-haul flights—the transport method contributing the second most to emissions—when a train journey of less than 2.5 hours is available," she says.

"Meaningful change is needed at every level; governments, organizations and travelers need to put their focus towards sustainable and climate-just tourism."

Provided by University of South Australia

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Black Summer bushfires not a 'record first', analysis of 2,000-year Antarctic ice core history finds

• In short: Climate scientists studying an Antarctic ice core found Australia has experienced at least seven severe bushfires over the past two millennia equal in intensity to the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, considered the worst on record.
• Powerful weather systems in the Southern Ocean link the two continents. The result is that sea salt concentrations in Antarctic ice directly indicate past bushfire events in south-east Australia, providing a "direct weather link".
• What's next? While catastrophic bushfire events are rare, continued global warming is heightening the risk of these extreme events, scientists say.

The threat of catastrophic bushfires in Australia has been "severely underestimated", climate scientists have warned. 

By analysing sea salt concentrations in an Antarctic ice core drilled decades ago, scientists have reconstructed bushfire weather patterns in south-east Australia dating back to 2,000 years ago.

The new study, published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, confirmed how devastating fire events could be with just natural climate variability, meaning without the added impact of human-induced climate change.

"We know climate change is ramping up the frequency and severity of fire weather," lead author and climatologist Danielle Udy said.

"Climate variability alone can can toss up more severe bushfire weather than what we have seen, including the 2019–20 bushfires.

"Given human-caused climate change is loading that dice even more for worse bushfire weather, we are most likely underestimating how bad bushfires can be in Australia."

Dr Udy said equal or more severe bushfires to the 2019 Black Summer fires — until now thought to be unprecedented — have occurred at least seven times over the past 2,000 years.

The study found they occurred in the summers of 485, 683, 709, 760, 862, 885 and 1108 AD.

"We need to plan for that in our bushfire seasons now and into the future," she said.

The Black Summer bushfires of 2019–20 raged through more than 24 million hectares, destroyed more than 3,000 homes, displaced tens of thousands of people, and was estimated to have killed billions of animals .

Thirty-three people died directly and nearly 417 more people lost their lives from smoke inhalation.

Paleoclimate weather data evident in ice core 

The report explained how the high and low pressure weather systems south of Australia were so large they connected the two continents, even though they were more than 3,000 kilometres apart.

As Australian bushfire weather records extend back only to the 1950s, insight into bushfire observations has been limited. 

To counter this, paleoclimate data collected from ice core extracted from Law Dome, an icy cap on the east coast of Antarctica, roughly due south of Perth, has provided a record of two millennia of weather from the Southern Ocean.

By drilling into an ice core at Law Dome and measuring levels of sea salt found in different sections, Dr Udy said scientists could "disentangle the knots of what is climate change and what is climate variability".

When south-east Australia experienced extreme bushfire weather over summer, there was less wind around Antarctica, which meant less sea-salt spray laid down at the ice core site.

In short, the ice core's sea salt concentrations indicated how much sea was sprayed onto ice by wind across the ocean, providing a "direct weather link".

"We used an ice core in Antarctica to reconstruct the past 2,000 years of south-east Australia's fire weather, and then compared the 2019-20 severity and frequency of that extreme fire weather to the past 2,000 years," Dr Udy said.

"As it gets windier across the ocean, you get more sea spray. A small portion of that goes up into the atmosphere and water molecules join onto it, it forms snowflakes, and it falls out as snow over Antarctica."

"And then when we drill the ice core, we're able to measure the sea salt concentration … back through time."

Report co-author Tessa Vance, a paleoclimatologist from the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership at the University of Tasmania, said as Antarctic water was so clean, its ice was a good indicator of how atmospheric circulation changed over time.

"There are still very tiny quantities of things like volcanic ash or sea salt aerosols that are bound up in the snowfall," she said.

"In Antarctica, these impurities are at very, very low concentrations. So we're measuring things in parts per billion range.

"One of the things that we can measure is sea salts … and that can tell us about wind across the Southern Ocean, and even across the sea ice."

Warning of future risk 'buried in the ice'

While the study found catastrophic fires occurred more frequently than previously thought, Dr Udy said they were "extremely rare".

However, she urged that continued global warming heightened the risk of these extreme events.

"The key thing is, the range of climate variability that is possible when everything collides is larger than what we used to know about," Dr Udy said.

"Climate change and climate variability are an additive together that increases our potential of having a Black Summer fire next summer."

Dr Udy said it "was only a matter of time" before the same type of weather system that brought the bushfire devastation of 2019 occurred again.

"That aligning with the four or five extra years of emissions increases that risk of another devastating fire season.

"We need legislation and we need more policy in place to meet our targets. And we need to actually start seeing our emissions come down, not continue growing as they have been doing."

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