At this meeting, which is also being attended by observers and experts from international organisations, participants will exchange information and consult on matters of common interest related to Antarctica. In addition, they will recommend measures to their governments to promote the principles and objectives of the Treaty, such as maintaining the White Continent as a nature reserve for science that is dedicated to peace.
The programme of the Consultative Meeting will be in two Working Groups, one on legal, institutional and policy issues, and the other on science, operations and tourism. This second Working Group will be co-chaired by Sonia Ramos, from the Technical Secretariat of the Spanish Polar Committee of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, who will lead the science and operations sessions. Ramos was appointed in 2019 but, due to the cancellation of the 2020 Consultative Meeting because of the pandemic, she was not able to start as co-chair until this year.
This is the first time that Spain has achieved this level of representation in the forum of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting following the ratification of the Antarctic Treaty in 1988.
Coinciding with the ATCM, the XXIII Meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) is being held - a group of experts that advises and makes recommendations to the ATCM on the implementation of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.
This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty coming into force (23 June 1961) and the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, known as the Madrid Protocol because it was signed in Madrid on 4 October 1991.
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