How can science and technology mitigate the impacts of human activities in Antarctica?
Under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, waste must be removed and the environment rehabilitated unless remediation activities themselves create a greater environmental impact. Removal and remediation in the Antarctic and subantarctic is many times more expensive than in developed temperate regions. Many procedures and technologies commonly used elsewhere are not effective in the Antarctic. The challenge is to use science to develop strategies to reuse waste and remediate impacts in situ wherever possible. When waste is returned to Australia, our priority is to develop procedures and technologies to prevent dispersal during remediation. Metadata for Impact of human activities in Antarctica are held at the Australian Antarctic Data Centre.
