Service, and the Department of State to identify and evaluate 

 ways in which waste disposal practices at U.S. stations and 

 field camps in Antarctica can and should be improved. 



Protected Areas ; Recommendations adopted by the 7th and 

 8th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (1972 and 1975) 

 established procedures for designating Sites of Special Scien- 

 tific Interest and Specially Protected Areas. Since then, 28 

 Sites of Special Scientific Interest and 17 Specially Protected 

 Areas have been so designated. The types and sizes of areas 

 protected have been limited and the 13th Consultative Meeting 

 adopted a recommendation reguesting that SCAR review and provide 

 advice on the adeguacy of the existing system of protected 

 areas, including the possible need for an additional category 

 under a different form of protection. SCAR's response to 

 this reguest, provided in a report entitled "The Protected 

 Areas System in the Antarctic," pointed out a number of de- 

 ficiencies in and guestions concerning the existing system. 

 It recommended that: (1) existing Specially Protected Areas, 

 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and historic monuments 

 be visited periodically to determine whether the objectives 

 for which they were designated are being met; (2) the results 

 of site visits carried out during the next two years be made 

 available for consideration during the preparatory meeting 

 for the 15th Consultative Meeting in 1989; (3) management 

 plans be developed for Specially Protected Areas, as well as 

 Sites of Special Scientific Interest; (4) measures be taken 

 to encourage submission of proposals for additional protected 

 areas to provide protection for geographically distributed, 

 representative examples of all Antarctic terrestrial, inland 

 water, and marine ecosystems; and (5) an additional multi- 

 purpose category of protected area be added to the existing 

 system. 



In response to the first two recommendations, the 14th 

 Consultative Meeting urged that Parties undertake visits to 

 as many Specially Protected Areas, Sites of Special Scientific 

 Interest, and historic monuments as possible during the next 

 two years and that reports of these visits be provided for 

 consideration at the preparatory meeting for the 15th Consul- 

 tative Meeting. With regard to the third recommendation, the 

 meeting acknowledged the desirability of management plans for 

 Specially Protected Areas as well as for Sites of Special Scien- 

 tific Interest. There were differing views, however, as to 

 whether management plans could be reguired without amending 

 the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Flora 

 and Fauna, adopted at the 8th Consultative Meeting in 1975. 

 It was agreed that examples of management plans for Specially 

 Protected Areas should be developed and the matter should be 

 considered further at the 15th Consultative Meeting. With 

 regard to the recommendation that steps be taken to expand 

 the number and types of areas protected under the existing 



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