Media release – Dutch Research Council (NWO), 22 June 2022

Four new projects about Antarctic tourism

What is the impact of tourism on Antarctica, and how do you deal with this in policy? Within the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA) programme ‘Polar Tourism – Research Programme on Assessment of Impacts and Responses’ (PT-REPAIR), four new projects will investigate tourism in vulnerable Antarctica.

The projects concern environmental stewardship, the tourist as an ambassador, instruments for public and private parties, and the cumulative effects on Antarctic biodiversity and wilderness values.Ships are getting bigger, travel further and more often, and companies offer a growing range of activities. How does this impact Antarctica, and how can we continue to protect it? This is what four new research projects focussing on Antarctic tourism will investigate and, in so doing, they will support policy developments in the Netherlands and beyond with the aim of protecting the values of the Antarctic Treaty and the Netherlands Polar Strategy. For example, they will investigate how you can organise tourism in Antarctica in an environmentally and nature-friendly way. The exact meaning of ambassadorship in Antarctica will also be explored, as many travel organisations claim that tourists become ‘ambassadors’ after visiting Antarctica. But what does this mean exactly, and how does it affect the continent?

Government ministries and NWA

The research programme was developed in the context of programme line 2 of the NWA, in which governments and other parties work together to tackle societal challenges through research. Via the Netherlands’ Polar Programme, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality are collaborative partners of the NWA. They have jointly made a budget of more than four million euros available for the programme. A kick-off meeting for the four new projects will be held in the autumn of 2022. In the second phase of the call, an additional budget will be made available for the four research groups to realise an overarching synthesis project. The projects will run from 2022 until 2027.

Collaboration

International collaboration is vital for polar research. Each of the four projects is conducted with the help of foreign researchers who, via the module Money follows Cooperation, are working on this research programme elsewhere in the world: in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The British Antarctic Survey – a permanent partner of NWO for polar research in Antarctica – is also involved in the project. Besides foreign co-applicants, the projects have also attracted a wide range of collaborating partners: a total of 23 different parties from research, industry, NGOs and the government. Several of these partners have chosen to get involved in more than one project: the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), the Antarctic Tourism Action Group (Ant-TAG), Oceanwide Expeditions and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

Antarctica is a fabulous but highly vulnerable wilderness. This research programme is the first in the world that specifically focuses on the impact of tourism and will make a major contribution to national and international policy for Antarctic tourism.

Arthur Eijs, from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, speaking on behalf of the Interdepartmental Polar Committee.

Projects awarded

ADAPT: Adaptation pathways through knowledge co-production to anticipate Antarctica’s uncertain tourism futures
Dr. S. (Stefan) Hartman, European Tourism Futures Institute, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences
The ADAPT project inspires a shift from advance-worrying to advance thinking and planning about Antarctica’s tourism future. The project offers tools (future scenarios, adaptation pathways, signal monitoring system) that help public and private stakeholders to make informed and robust decisions regarding Antarctica’s tourism future, in which values and qualities are protected and there is a social licence for tourism in Antarctica.

  • Consortium

ANTARC-SHIP: Fostering environmental stewardship among Antarctic tourism governance actors and institutions
Dr. M.A.J. (Machiel) Lamers, Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research
Tourism in Antarctica is growing and diversifying, with unclear impacts for nature, heritage and science programmes. At the same time, states find it very difficult to agree on policies, which is why we have to rely on the goodwill of tour operators, organizations and governments to organize tourism in an environmentally friendly way. This project examines how these forms of environmental stewardship can be understood, assessed, enhanced and embedded in various private and public governance institutions. In this way we give Antarctic tourism an environmentally sustainable push in the right direction.

  • Consortium

GUIDE-BEST (Antarctica): Growing Understanding of Individual Drivers of Expectations and Behaviours to Enhance Sustainable Tourism in Antarctic
Dr. A.J.M. (Annette) Scheepstra, Arctic Centre, University of Groningen
Many tour operators claim that tourists after a visit to Antarctica become ambassadors. However, what this ambassadorship means is not well understood. In this project we will study the meaning of the Antarctic Ambassadorship and which factors have an influence on it. The following factors will be examined: the role of guides, group size, cultural values and the kind of activities tourist do. We expect to use this knowledge to develop tools that can support pro-environmental behaviour.

  • Consortium

ANT-MICI: Antarctic tourism – developing knowledge and tools to minimise cumulative impacts on biodiversity and wilderness values in Antarctica
Prof C.J. (Kees) Bastmeijer, Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University
In Antarctica, numbers of tourists and visited sites have been increasing for over 30 years. This is a concern for Antarctic biodiversity and wilderness values because the sum of effects (cumulative impacts) of these activities is unknown. This program aims – together with societal partners – to contribute to solutions by providing policymakers and the tourist sector the following knowledge: an Antarctic tourism forecast (20 years), maps of Antarctic biodiversity and wilderness values, an inventory of cumulative impacts, a monitoring system, and an identification of strategies and regulatory tools to minimize future cumulative impacts on Antarctic biodiversity and wilderness values.