Switzerland commits to stronger environmental protection and research as well as sustainable tourism in the Antarctic

Bern, 04.03.2016 - On 4 March 2016, the Federal Council submitted its dispatch to the Federal Assembly on the ratification of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. This international agreement strengthens both the protection of the Antarctic environment and Switzerland as a centre for research and innovation. It also harmonises the demand for tourism with the need to preserve this virtually untouched ecosystem. An environmental approval procedure is designed to ensure that scientific and private expeditions do not have a negative impact on the continent's flora and fauna.

In view of the global use of the Antarctic as a jointly administered territory to which no claims to sovereignty under international law can be made, it has been necessary to define a common denominator to determine the scope of protection of the Antarctic environment. In 1991, the states parties to the Antarctic Treaty drew up the Protocol on Environmental Protection, creating an effective instrument to reconcile human interests in the utilisation of the territory with the preservation of the natural environment.

The international agreement incorporates binding environmental standards. The approval procedure is a central feature which every member state is required to establish. The member states carry out an approval procedure prior to every expedition to the Antarctic regardless of whether it is planned by a private party or public-law institution. Depending on the impact of the planned activity, the applicant must draw up a more or less comprehensive environmental impact evaluation. In order to implement the Protocol on Environmental Protection at the national level it is necessary to enact an implementation law governing the details of the national evaluation procedure.

With ratification, Switzerland will contribute to the effective protection of the Antarctic, while supporting Switzerland's well established polar research in its international cooperation with other member states conducting research. Switzerland, as an industrial centre, will be granted regulated and advantageous access to the continent to enable it to test high-precision technology, such as fine mechanical instruments, in extreme conditions. Swiss tour companies will also benefit from the broad international acceptance of their activities thanks to the national evaluation procedure.

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