principal items of discussion at the XVIIth Consulta- 
tive Meeting were establishment of a permanent 
secretariat to facilitate information exchange and help 
organize consultative meetings, entry into force of the 
Protocol on Environmental Protection, environmental 
impact assessment and monitoring, the Antarctic 
protected area system, tourism and adventure travel, 
and liability for environmental impacts. 
Antarctic Treaty Secretariat — Antarctic Treaty 
Consultative Meetings are organized and hosted by the 
Consultative Parties on a rotating basis. Transfer of 
information concerning member states’ activities in 
Antarctica is done through an annual information ex- 
change. As the number of Treaty Parties increased 
and international interest in Antarctica has grown, 
there has been growing recognition that both informa- 
tion exchange and organization of meetings could be 
enhanced by establishing a permanent secretariat. It 
also is recognized that effective implementation of the 
Protocol on Environmental Protection will require a 
permanent secretariat — e.g., to support the work of 
the Committee on Environmental Protection to be 
established when the Convention enters into force. 
At the XVIIth Consultative Meeting, agreement 
was reached in principle on the need for and the 
general functions of a small secretariat. Both Argenti- 
na and the United States offered to host the secre- 
tariat. Agreement could not be reached on where the 
secretariat should be located, how it should be funded 
and staffed, or what legal status it should be afforded. 
It was agreed that a meeting would be held, before the 
next Consultative Meeting scheduled to be held in the 
first half of 1994, to complete the work necessary to 
establish the secretariat. 
Entry into Force of the Protocol — During the 
XVIIth Consultative Meeting, it was noted that all 26 
Consultative Parties had signed the Protocol on 
Environmental Protection but that only Spain had 
deposited its instrument of ratification. A number of 
other countries, including the United States, indicated 
that they had initiated the process and expected 
ratification to be completed in either 1993 or 1994. 
As noted earlier, the Marine Mammal Commission 
believes that prompt development of effective imple- 
menting legislation by the United States will encour- 
137 
Chapter V — International 
age other Parties to take similar action and speed 
entry into force of the Protocol. 
Environmental Impact Assessment and Monitor- 
ing — When it enters into force, the Antarctic Treaty 
Protocol on Environmental Protection will require that 
during the planning stages Parties assess the possible 
environmental impacts of their activities in Antarctica 
and institute environmental monitoring programs to 
ensure that authorized activities do not have unaccept- 
able environmental impacts. To help Parties meet 
these obligations, the Council of Managers of National 
Antarctic Programs has developed “Practical Guide- 
lines for the Antarctic Environmental Impact Pro- 
cess.” The XVIIth Consultative Meeting welcomed 
these guidelines, and pending entry into force of the 
Protocol, emphasized the importance of voluntarily 
implementing the environmental assessment proce- 
dures set forth in the Protocol. 
At the XVIIth Consultative Meeting, participants 
also considered the report of the First Meeting of 
Experts on Environmental Monitoring in Antarctica, 
noted earlier. Meeting participants agreed that a 
workshop should be held to facilitate development of 
a cooperative data management system; that the 
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research should be 
asked to provide advice on the types of long-term 
monitoring programs necessary to verify that Antarctic 
fauna and flora are not affected adversely by research 
and other activities in Antarctica and on standards for 
fossil fuel emissions; and that the Council of Manag- 
ers of National Antarctic Programs, in consultation 
with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, 
should be asked to establish research programs at a 
representative subset of Antarctic stations to determine 
the environmental impacts of different types and sizes 
of stations in different Antarctic environments. 
The Antarctic Protected Area System — The 
XVIIth Consultative Meeting adopted management 
plans for four Specially Protected Areas. The meeting 
also considered measures that could be taken to 
improve the Antarctic Protected Area System and to 
begin to give effect to the provisions of Annex V of 
the Antarctic Treaty Protocol on Environmental 
Protection. The meeting was assisted in this regard 
by a paper summarizing the results of a Workshop on 
Antarctic Protected Areas convened jointly by the 
