Specially protected and managed areas in Antarctica (updated)

Annex V to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Protocol) establishes a framework for designating Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas (ASMAs). These areas are intended to support the objective of protecting comprehensively the Antarctic environment. There are 72 ASPAs and 6 ASMAs currently. ASPAs are sites with outstanding environmental, scientific, historic, aesthetic or wilderness values, any combination of those values, or ongoing or planned scientific research that warrant additional protection due to these values or the risks of human impacts on these values. Important work has been done to underpin the development of a representative series of ASPAs, including spatial analyses to identify distinct ‘Environmental Domains’ and ‘Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions’. The Antarctic Treaty Parties have agreed that these spatial frameworks are useful references to guide the designation of ASPAs within a systematic environmental-geographic framework, and the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) has recognised the need for a more systematic approach to the development of the protected area system.