Proposed reserves in the Antarctic have prompted accusations of a big-power carve up, but the critics have got it wrong.

Land constitutes 29% of the earth’s surface and nearly 13% of it is protected, while high seas account for 43% of the earth’s surface and less than 1% of them are fully protected. As the marine environment has been rapidly deteriorating in recent years, we call for in this report the establishment of the world’s largest marine protected area (MPA) in the Antarctic Ocean, which makes up 10% of the ocean in our living planet and is the world’s last pristine wilderness. The report depicts the productive yet fragile ecosystem in the Antarctic Ocean and potential threats to it arising from climate change and commercial fishing. The report elaborates on the function of Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resource (CCAMLR), its precautionary approach of management and the progress of marine conservation in the Antarctic Ocean. It documents the development of the international dialogue pertaining to Ross Sea and East Antarctic MPA proposals among 25 members of CCAMLR and makes responses from NGO’s perspective to the main concerns of the countries that are not in support of the proposals.

In October 2011, the Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) suggested to build a Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) network, and No-Take Marine Reserve on 19 specific areas in the Southern Ocean surrounding the Antarctic. Based on the ecological value of the selected areas and the attention to the Ross Sea, the AOA expressed its expectation of this protection network through the report “The Inheritance of the Southern Ocean: the Circumpolar Ocean Area and the Protection of the Ross Sea”.