The subject of waste disposal will be considered further at 

 the Special Treaty Meeting to be held in 1990. 



Marine Pollution — As tourist and other activities increase 

 in the seas around Antarctica, there is an increased risk of 

 marine pollution from accidental oil spills, ship wrecks, dumping 

 of garbage and other debris, and normal operations. To minimize 

 the possibility and impacts of marine pollution in Antarctica, 

 the United States proposed and the Meeting adopted a recom- 

 mendation which calls upon the Antarctic Treaty Consultative 

 Parties to insure that their vessels operating in the Antarctic 

 Treaty area comply with the relevant provisions of: the 1972 

 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of 

 Waste and Other Matters (The London Dumping Convention) ; the 1973 

 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from 

 Ships, including Annexes I, II, III, and V (MARPOL 73/78); the 

 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea and 

 its 1978 Protocol, the 1978 International Convention on Standards 

 of Training, Certification, and Watch-keeping for Seafarers; the 

 1976 International Convention on Load Lines; and the 1972 

 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing 

 Collisions at Sea. The recommendation also calls upon states 

 party to MARPOL 73/78 to take action in the International 

 Maritime Organization (IMO) to secure formal designation of the 

 waters south of 60 degrees south latitude as a special area under 

 Annexes I and V of MARPOL. In addition, the recommendation calls 

 for the establishment of contingency plans for responding to oil 

 spills and for convening a group of experts, before the regular 

 Consultative Meeting in 1991, to consider and provide advice on 

 the development of contingency plans. 



In addition to adopting the marine pollution recommendation, 

 the Parties agreed, in the future, to consider questions of 

 liability for marine pollution damage. 



Environmental Impact Assessment — At the XlVth Antarctic 

 Treaty Consultative Meeting held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 

 1987, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties adopted a 

 recommendation calling upon national organizations responsible 

 for Antarctic activities to carry out environmental impact 

 assessments as part of the planning process leading to new or 

 increased activities in Antarctica. The XVth Consultative 

 Meeting noted the importance of giving effect to this recom- 

 mendation and endorsed a proposal by the Managers of National 

 Antarctic Programs to hold a workshop on environmental impact 

 assessment procedures in conjunction with their next meeting to 

 be held in July 1990. The meeting also agreed that consultations 

 should be undertaken to develop cooperative programs for 

 monitoring key parameters of Antarctic environments and that 

 consideration should be given to requiring application of 

 environmental impact assessment procedures to all human 

 activities in Antarctica, including tourism. (Recommendation 



99 



