Guest editor Anthony Bergin

At their annual Meeting in 2012, the 25 members of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) failed to come to agreement on the declaration of any specific Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This was despite several years of discussions and clear commitments to the establishment of a representative system of MPAs within the Convention Area by 2012, the adoption of a small MPA providing protection to the South Orkney Islands southern shelf in 2009, and an agreement in 2011 of Conservation Measure 91-04 providing a general framework for the establishment of CCAMLR MPAs. States are happy to commit to protecting the continent (and reap the benefits of looking proactive) but seem to lack the willpower to follow through.

CCAMLR considered three proposals for MPAs at this meeting: the Ross Sea region MPA proposed jointly by NZ and USA; the East Antarctic Representative System of MPAs proposed jointly by Australia, France and the EU; and the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Shelves (put forward by the EU). Read more