Why Give Tourism The Cold Shoulder?

The Age

Saturday May 19, 2007

David Scott

When Captain James Cook launched a cannonball at Antarctic penguins in 1772 he noted that they did not seem at all fazed. Today, most "shots" of Antarctic penguins are taken by cameras but human behaviour in the region has never been a hotter topic.

Dozens of scientific bases dot the continent and tourist numbers have trebled in a decade. The Antarctic, the world's last great wilderness, is in the public eye like never before.

The responsibility for determining appropriate behaviour in the Antarctic has been shouldered by the world's scientific community since the Antarctic Treaty gave primacy to peace and science in 1959.

The behaviour of scientists and their staff is reinforced with intensive training, while tour operators brief tourists about what they should and should not do on Antarctica.

Many a dinner-table debate has raged over whether tourists should be allowed to visit the Antarctic. Quite often these debates overlook one point: you can't stop them. There is no single government regulating behaviour in the Antarctic and even if there was, policing the zone would be impossible because of its vast size and inhospitable climate.

The treaty "froze" claims on the continent. Among the dozen signatories in 1959 were superpowers the US and USSR, which agreed on little else but quickly reached consensus that the part of the world below 60 degrees south should remain sacred water, hallowed ground and venerated ice.

Since then dozens more countries have signed and now more than 80 per cent of the world's population is represented by the document. Signatories gather for a talkfest each year called the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. This year's version finished last week in India.

There are a few hardy private yachties but tourists mostly arrive by cruise ship. The break-up of the Soviet Union led to a ready supply of icebreakers in the early 1990s and tourist numbers rose from 6512 in the 1992-1993 summer to last summer's estimated 28,826.

But visiting the continent is still a fairly exclusive activity: fewer than 350,000 humans have ever made the journey.

The main argument in favour of tourism is that visitors become ambassadors for the preservation of the continent. They return to their countries and influence their governments to pass laws that protect Antarctica.

Expedition tourism pioneer Lars-Eric Lindblad began taking people to the Antarctic in the 1960s. He summed up the pro-tourism side in one line: "You can't protect what you don't know."

Further information: For what Australia is up to, see www.aad.gov.au. For the tour operators' perspective, see iaato.org. For the custodians of the Antarctic Treaty, see www.ats.aq.

© 2007 The Age

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