The IPY is ambitious in scope and in scale. The IPY Programme Office has endorsed 99 projects with Antarctic or bipolar focus for the IPY. These projects encompass at least 350 research activities, of which 82% plan to conduct fieldwork in Antarctica. Of these activities, 105 (37%) activities are planning to leave behind physical infrastructure. To date, only two have completed any environmental impact assessments.
The Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) is conducting a project to enhance the environmental legacy of the IPY through outreach efforts to scientists, tourists and other visitors of Antarctica. We presented a poster on this subject at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, USA in December 2006.
Our goal was to raise awareness among scientists and discuss various ways in which the environmental legacy of their projects could be enhanced during the planning and execution stages. For example, the decision to use renewable energy, non-invasive and remote sensing techniques and to remove all instrumentation and infrastructure at the end of the project's lifetime can be made during the planning stage. In the field, minimizing disturbance to flora and fauna, optimizing fuel consumption and minimizing the release of unretrievable equipment into the environment will further reduce the environmental impacts of the project.
