Antarctica is the world's greatest remaining wilderness area. It plays a significant role in many global environmental issues such as wind and water currents and world weather patterns.
State of the Environment Reporting:
provides a 'snap-shot' of the status of the Antarctic environment
relies on long-term monitoring of environmental and other variables
allows the detection of trends and patterns, which may be due to natural variability or human-induced (anthropogenic) pressures
Why are we interested?
State of the Environment Reporting allows us to:
assess the quality of the Antarctic environment
identify threats to the Antarctic environment
monitor the pressures we exert on it and track the impact and efficiency of our activities in the Antarctic.
How do we do it?
State of the Environment Reporting is based on environmental indicators. Indicators:
are data that summarise physical, chemical, biological or socio-economic factors which best represent the key elements of the environment
are grouped into themes
We have developed a web-accessible computer system called SIMR that manages the indicator data, metadata, and custodian information. The system automatically prompts custodians for data and evaluations when required and can produce reports on indicators via the web whenever requested.
