Permanent Land-Based Facilities for Tourism in Antarctica: The Need for Regulation

Review of European Community & International Environmental Law (RECIEL), Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 84-99, 2008

Tilburg Law School Research Paper No. 11/2011

20 Pages Posted: 24 Feb 2011 Last revised: 22 Apr 2011

See all articles by Kees Bastmeijer

Kees Bastmeijer

Tilburg University

Machiel Lamers

Environmental Policy Group

Juan Harcha

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: January 10, 2008

Abstract

Antarctica is often described as one of world's last wildernesses. For a very long time, its isolation from human settlements has provided an effective protection from intensive human visitation; however, over the past two decades, human activities in Antarctica – in particular tourist activities – have grown and diversified rapidly. In view of environmental and other concerns, regulating Antarctic tourism has become one of the major issues of debate within the Antarctic Treaty System. One of the questions that has received much attention since 2004 is the question of whether additional measures are needed to regulate (e.g., prohibit) the future development of permanent land-based facilities (e.g., hotels, visitor centres, logistic facilities) for tourism in Antarctica. A number of State governments involved in the Antarctic Treaty System proposed to prohibit such developments; however, the question has not yet received a clear answer.

After a brief introduction to the Antarctic Treaty System, this article provides a definition of permanent land-based facilities for tourism and an overview of current and past land-based tourism facilities in Antarctica. Next, the question of whether such facilities are likely to further develop in the near future is discussed and an inventory is made of arguments for and against such developments. In view of the focus of this journal, environmental issues will be discussed first, followed by other consideration. Based on this information, a number of regulatory options are described for consideration by policy makers. The authors argue that there is a need for regulating permanent land-based tourist facilities in Antarctica and in the conclusion of this article they express their views in respect of the most favourable option.

Keywords: Antarctic, Antarctic Treaty System, tourism, cumulative impacts, IAATO, strategy for Antarctic tourism, permanent facilities, hotels, precautionary approach, Madrid Protocol, self-regulation, wilderness, intrinsic values

JEL Classification: K32, K33, K11, N50, N57, Q20, Q24, Q25, Q26, Q28, Q30, Q32, Q, 38, Q41, Q48, B10, B12, B13, D23

Suggested Citation

Bastmeijer, Kees and Lamers, Machiel and Harcha, Juan, Permanent Land-Based Facilities for Tourism in Antarctica: The Need for Regulation (January 10, 2008). Review of European Community & International Environmental Law (RECIEL), Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 84-99, 2008 , Tilburg Law School Research Paper No. 11/2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1766407 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1766407

Kees Bastmeijer (Contact Author)

Tilburg University ( email )

P.O.Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.tilburguniversity.nl/webwijs/show/?uid=c.j.bastmeijer

Machiel Lamers

Environmental Policy Group ( email )

Hollandseweg 1
Wageningen, 6706 KN
Netherlands

Juan Harcha

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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