Demonstration of “substantial research activity” to acquire consultative status under the Antarctic Treaty

The rise of Portuguese Antarctic research: implications for Portugal's status under the Antarctic Treaty

“…The methodology followed Gray and Hughes (2016). The bibliometric searches were performed using the Scopus database (www.scopus.com), with all data retrieved on 5 th September 2017 to ensure consistency.…”

“…In order to critically evaluate the research activity of countries engaged in Antarctic science, Gray and Hughes (2016) described the use of two metrics, the overall number of Antarctic papers and the proportion of national scientific output on Antarctic topics ("national focus"). Here we apply these metrics to Portugal to: (1) assess the growth of the Portuguese Antarctic research activity in the last two decades (i.e.…”

“…2). Although a mechanism for considering the acceptability of a request for promotion to consultative status has gradually emerged, scientific criteria for a unified assessment have been lacking (Dudeney & Walton, 2012; Gray & Hughes, 2016), with existing Parties applying their own tests which would include those of political acceptability as well as the value and extent of the scientific research. At ATCM XL in Beijing, China, the Parties agreed on ‘Guidelines on the procedure to be followed with respect to Consultative Party status’ (ATCM, 2017, Annex, Decision 2), which provide examples of evidence that is likely to demonstrate a Party's suitability for consultative status.…”

“…A recent study showed that national investment on Antarctic infrastructure, such as the establishment of a research station, was not a reliable indicator of scientific output—the development of infrastructure is not necessary for scientific activity, and is closely tied to the logistical and economic capacity to do so (Gray & Hughes, 2016). In many cases, an investment in infrastructure may be motivated by political interests rather than purely scientific ones (Brady, 2013; Dodds, Hemmings, & Roberts, 2017).…”

Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for Antarctica

“…The negotiation of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, which placed pre-existing national territorial claims into abeyance, put in place the mechanism for a form of international governance of the Antarctic continent and surrounding Southern Ocean above latitude 60°S. Currently, 54 nations are signatories to the Antarctic Treaty ('Parties'), with the 29 Consultative Parties that have demonstrated substantial research activity in the region eligible to partake in governance decision-making through a consensus model at the normally annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) (Gray & Hughes 2016) (Fig. 1).…”