The Antarctic connection

This series of papers comprises contributions to a symposium on the geography of the Falkland Islands, held at the Royal Geographical Society on 18 May 1982, with Lord Shackleton in the Chair. Armed incursion into the Islands by Argentinian forces in April 1982 led to an increased interest in a comparatively little known British possession, though the Report on the Economic Survey of the Falkland Islands (review, Geogrl J. 143, 2: 282-85) in 1976 made by Lord Shackleton and a team of experts, and their lecture here in that year (Geogrl J. 143, 1: 1-13), meant that the economic prospects for the Islands had already been discussed at the RGS. The present series of papers covers the political and legal aspects of the British claim to the Falklands, the history, physical geography and the present social scene, an updating of the earlier proposals for improving the Islands' economic prospects, and papers on the need for the conservation of resources, the sheep farming potential, and the economic possibility of krill fishing. Since this symposium was held, however, Lord Shackleton and his team have made a revised study of the economic and social aspects of the Falkland Islands, and have made new recommendations. These are the subject of a new Report: Falkland Islands: Economic Study 1982 (HMSO), of which a review appears on p. 73 of this issue