Who regulates tourism in Antarctica? Should it be banned?

I have just been to Antarctica, the frozen continent, for the second time.

And as it already happened the first time I published things from there, some comments on social networks (very minority, by the way) stressed that tourism in Antarctica should be prohibited and they disgrace those of us who are trying to destroy the last pristine corner of the planet. .

I have never been a friend of prohibitions.

We could prohibit going to Antarctica, yes, and with the same arguments prohibit tourism in the Himalayas, in the jungles or in Venice.

But I think that tourism regulation, entry quotas to certain places and good management are much more effective (and realistic).

It is true that tourism in Antarctica is growing a lot.

While in the 2018-2019 season 58,168 visitors were registered, it is estimated that this 2023-2024 season the number will reach 100,000 for the first time (as a comparison, the Galapagos Islands, which are infinitely smaller, receive almost 300,000 people annually) .

Another factor to take into account is that although there is talk of tourism in Antarctica, in reality, the vast majority of cruises only visit the northern corner of the Antarctic Peninsula, the space between the South Shetland Islands and the Gerlache Strait, which should not be even 1% of the 14 million square kilometers that the frozen continent has.

So, no, there are no floods of tourists trampling everything, taking disrespectful selfies on the glaciers or following the

free tour

guide en masse .

Almost the entire continent remains a mass of ice and rock without human presence.

More information

Antarctica for tourists

To give clues to the debate, here I summarize how Antarctic tourism is carried out and how it is regulated right now.

Who owns Antarctica?

In a unique case in the history of human beings, who have been killing each other for hundreds of thousands of years to conquer territories, Antarctica belongs to no one.

After some skirmishes in the 1940s and 1950s, especially between Great Britain and Argentina, 12 countries signed the Antarctic Treaty on December 1, 1959, a binding document that recognizes that the frozen continent does not belong to any country, that all territorial claims are postponed during its validity, that only peaceful actions can be carried out in that territory and that all commercial, industrial or extractive activity is prohibited, with the exception of scientific research….

and tourism.

Currently, 56 countries have signed and ratified it, including Spain.

A group of tourists aboard a zodiac observe penguins in Antarctica. Sean OS Barley (Alamy / CORDON PRESS)

The conditions on how you could visit Antarctica were detailed in the Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection, better known as the Madrid Protocol because it was signed in the Spanish capital on October 4, 1991, a complementary legal instrument to the Antarctic Treaty. .

Although this protocol does not make special mention of tourism, its provisions provide guidelines to minimize the adverse impacts of tourists and is legally binding for all companies that want to operate in Antarctica and for all visitors, whether on private or organized trips.

Who ensures compliance?

If there is no authority or police or human presence other than the scientists at the bases, who enforces that protocol there?

To begin with, any tour operator who wishes to take travelers to Antarctica must notify and obtain authorization from the Antarctic committee of the country to which they belong.

Furthermore, to make up for this lack of authority on the ground, seven tour operators created the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) in 1991, whose purpose is to “defend and promote the practice of safe and environmentally responsible actions to Antarctica by the private sector.

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A post shared by Paco Nadal ✈️ Travel journalist (@paconadal)

Currently, IAATO is made up of more than 100 companies and organizations from 19 countries (none Spanish), including land operators, shipping companies, travel agencies, tourist offices, government offices, companies that

charter

yachts and airplanes, conservation NGOs and others. companies in the sector.

These hundred move the vast majority of tourists who come there, especially on small cruises that leave from Ushuaia (Argentina).

The IAATO has a code of good practices that is mandatory for all partners, which can be summarized as follows:

• Only ships with less than 500 passengers can approach land and disembark passengers.

• There cannot be more than one ship at a time at a landing point.

• No more than 100 people can disembark at a time at the same point.

• Before the first disembarkation, the onboard staff checks the clothes and backpacks or bags of each of the passengers who are going to disembark with a vacuum cleaner, brushes and tweezers to eliminate any organic remains, from cat or dog hair to a peanut. that has been forgotten in a pocket.

• Before each disembarkation, passengers step into a container with disinfectant to eliminate any pathogens from their soles.

• Once on land, you can only walk along the trails and places previously marked by the expedition team.

• The traveler cannot sit or lie down, nor put one knee on the ground.

  Only the disinfected sole of the boots can be in contact with the rock or ice of Antarctica.

• He can't urinate on land, much less do other major things.

  A suitable urination container must be brought and then emptied into the cabin toilet.

• You cannot get closer than five meters to penguins, seals, fur seals and other animals.

• You cannot touch anything, leave anything or take anything.

Remains of a Hector Whaling Company facility, on Deception Island, in the west of the Antarctic Peninsula, on January 24, 2024. JUAN BARRETO (AFP / Getty Images)

What dangers does tourism pose for Antarctica?

The exponential growth in the number of tourists in just a few years has set off alarm bells.

It seems inevitable that in the not too distant future it will be necessary to consider what maximum number of visitors is acceptable and acceptable in such a special territory.

Currently, IAATO has 81 affiliated ships, including small-draft yachts and cruise ships with less than 500 passengers (although not all operate regularly).

And there are several shipping companies awaiting the delivery of new ships to operate in both Poles given the growing demand.

Arrivals by plane, although with minority numbers, also exist and are increasing.

The main ones are the flight from Punta Arenas to King George Island (South Shetland), a Chilean airfield built in 1980 to serve the numerous scientific bases in the area that is also used for commercial flights, especially to carry Wealthy tourists who do not want to suffer the two days of sailing through the turbulent waters of the Drake Passage, and their cruise ship picks them up there.

200 flights are scheduled for the 2023-2024 season alone.

To this we must add those of the private company White Desert Ltd, which has set up a private airfield and a camp with fiberglass domes on wooden platforms in the Queen Maud Land sector for super-luxury clients, to whom They are even offered 4x4 routes.

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A post shared by White Desert Antarctica (@white.desert.antarctica)

The problem is who and how establishes and enforces this hypothetical

numerus clausus

in the absence of a single managing body.

Decisions within the Antarctic Treaty must be approved by the 29 countries considered “consultative parties” (that is, with the right to vote) and ratified by the 56 member countries, a slow process that can take decades.

In fact, the decision not to authorize landings by ships with more than 500 passengers was made in 2009 and is not yet official because not all members have ratified it.

It is applied

de facto

by the IAATO self-regulatory code.

Biosecurity (introduction of foreign species) and the carbon footprint generated by these visits are the two most real dangers, according to experts.

The proposed solutions vary from smaller, more modern ships that generate less CO2 emissions or keeping only the least harmful activities on land, to expanding landing sites on the Antarctic Peninsula in exchange for not extending to more sites... OR the most radical: completely ban tourism.

The reality of scientific bases

One last note from a mere observer after having been there a couple of times: if we except the carbon footprint (which exists, no one denies it, although it is not seen), I did not observe that tourists left any other footprint on the ground after our step.

The only rusty iron, abandoned barracks, empty warehouses, airfields, polluting engines and human footprints in Antarctica are the scientific bases, many of them

supposed scientific bases

.

Only Argentina has 13 in that territory.

Chile has nine, plus five operational shelters.

Russia has six.

China has just inaugurated its fifth station, the same number as the United States. Spain has two.

Is there much research done in polar territories?

Not at all.

These bases are there for geopolitical reasons: to be able to claim territorial rights the day the Treaty expires and the melon of land distribution in Antarctica is opened.

That is also a harmful reality for the frozen continent, but one that no one denounces.

Of course, the bad guys in the movie are the tourists.

You can also follow Paco Nadal on Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X. And listen to him every Friday, at 7:00 p.m., with Carles Francino on La Ventana, on Cadena SER.

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