Antarctica & treaty

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Antarctica characteristics
- The remotest continent on earth
- The coldest, windiest and least populated continent on earth
- The smallest continent with a land area of 7 million square kilometers
- It has a giant ice sheet (around 2000 metres thick) that stores about 70% of the earths water
- Driest place on earth
- Home to penguins, seals and algae
Antarctic Treaty
- Tourism has to follow the rules of the treaty
- In 1961, many countries promised to make Antarctica a nuclear test and the disposal of radioactive waste free zone
- Antarctica should be used for peaceful purposes only
Pressure and management issues on Antarctica
- Falling numbers of krill
  - Important Antarctic species depend on krill
  - The overharvesting of krill could have a serious effect all the way up the Antarctic food chain
- General over-fishing
  - Several species of fish, such as the Antarctic icefish have been over fished
- Increasing levels of tourism
  - Since the early 1900s, the number of tourists visiting Antarctica has increased from 5000 to over 35000 a year
  - Most travel by ship and increasing numbers are going ashore to take photographs and enjoy activities
  - In 2009, Antarctic Treaty agreed to limit the number of tourists allowed to go ashore

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