Policy brief: Climate change and its impact on the Antarctic Peninsula

Highlights • The Antarctic Peninsula, part of British Antarctic Territory, is warming rapidly, up to two times the global mean rate of 0.27°C per decade. • Substantial and irreparable environmental damage to the Antarctic Peninsula occurs if global warming exceeds 2°C. • Significant loss of sea ice, ice shelf collapse and glacier recession risk self-perpetuating processes that will amplify polar warming and influence global climate, ocean circulation and sea level. • The changing Antarctic Peninsula climate has ramifications for species migration and loss, with impacts on krill, fishing, and food chains for large marine mammals. Extreme weather has led to flooded penguin nest sites and low sea ice, leading to failures of Emperor Penguin breeding colonies. • Action to rapidly reduce carbon emissions can limit long term and severe impacts on the Antarctic Peninsula, including impacts to marine and terrestrial biodiversity and human operations, and limit wider ramifications for global systems. • Global warming will require a more flexible and dynamic approach to marine protected areas and other initiatives designed to conserve biodiversity in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic continent. • The UK’s British Antarctic Territory encapsulates the Peninsula, and the UK’s 2025 Antarctic Strategy is committed to maintaining “peaceful and lawful usage” and to continue upholding the Antarctic Treaty. Environmental changes on the Peninsula, creating a riskier and more challenging operational environment, alongside increased shipping, tourism and fishing, may place stress on the Antarctic Treaty System and associated legal instruments.