It's an absolute pleasure to welcome Andy Sharman who's the leader of our very newly
formed environmental stewardship program. Andy's had over 25 years experience at the
environmental science policy and management interface. He's been a fisheries biologist and
fisheries manager and was manager of save the Tasmanian devil program for a number of years.
Andy currently leads the Antarctic Division's environmental stewardship
program which also includes the cleaner Antarctica project,
which is a major initiative that will be focused on over the next few years and
I think he'll capture elements of that in his presentation today thanks Andy.
Thanks Nicole. I'm flying without a net today I've got a video that will hopefully
run seamlessly in the background. The technology will not fail me
I'm just not sure if that's playing or if that's paused.
Australia is an original signatory to the Antarctic treaty and championed the
development of the 1991 protocol on environmental protection, the Madrid protocol. This provides
for comprehensive protection of Antarctica as a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science.
So just look at these lovely historical photos for a second while it catches up with me. Australia
continues this commitment to environmental protection. In the recently updated 20-year
strategy and action plan, which clearly highlights the important role environmental stewardship plays
in supporting a strong and effective Antarctic treaty system and in Australia's national
interests. The environmental stewardship program is made up of two core elements, environmental
management and a cleaner Antarctica. Our focus is on environmental protection, conservation
and management as well as the remediation and repair of the Antarctic environment.
But how do we demonstrate strong environmental stewardship in Antarctica? The Madrid protocol
gives us some really good guidance with principles such as impact assessments for new activities as
well as waste and fuel management guidelines. For the AAD, leadership in environmental stewardship
is about ensuring we prioritize the environment when planning and conducting activities in
Antarctica. And we support the fundamental science that's needed to understand the impacts of past,
current and future activities and we develop comprehensive mitigation measures that avoid or
minimize those impacts. These principles will become increasingly important over the next
few years as we bring new capabilities into our program and we start to modernize our stations.
We will prepare science-based environmental impact assessments for all new activities
and we'll also undertake an assessment of the impacts associated with ongoing activities.
Over the next five years the environmental stewardship program will be rolling out a
comprehensive environmental monitoring audit and response plan for the Australian Antarctic
Program. This monitoring program will build on the knowledge gained from past monitoring of
diversity, natural values, in adjacent to our stations and across the Australian Antarctic
Terror Antarctic Territory. It will be the cornerstone of the AAD's environmental management
system and it will support the implementations of world's best standards across all our activities.
We actually started some of this work this year. In 2021 summer we were using noise meters and
remote cameras to observe wildlife responses to activities such as aviation operations and
station operations and we've just completed an environmental monitoring plan for the RSV Nuyina,
so that we can start to quantify the nature and extent of the environmental impacts associated
with operating this amazing vessel in the Southern Ocean and adjacent waters off Antarctica.
Our program will draw on science from across the AAD,
external research partners and other parts of government to develop best practice management
mitigation and remediation strategies that improve environmental outcomes in
Antarctica and enhance Australia's standing in scientific and environmental leadership.
We'll also work closely with Phil and the team in technology and innovation
to apply new and emerging technologies to monitor the environmental impacts of
our activities but also to monitor how the environment is responding to our management
and mitigation actions and how effective that mitigation is. This work will support
the development of an impact minimization strategy for the whole of the Antarctic program.
But environmental stewardship also means taking responsibility
for the practices of the past. Finding ways to restore and remediate the environment and
this is a key focus of the cleaner Antarctica program within the environmental stewardship.
I've just talked a little bit quickly so if you'll bear with me.
The nerves got the better of me.
Human activities in Antarctica have been happening for a hundred years but it wasn't until the mid
90s after the signing of the Madrid protocol there was an obligation for Antarctic programs to return
waste to the home country this has left a legacy of waste and contamination across Antarctica. It's
estimated there's over 10 million cubic meters of waste and contaminated soil in Antarctica.
Much of this legacy ways takes the form of solid waste and debris but there's also a huge hidden
burden of chemical contamination. Practices of the past included leaving waste on the sea ice where
it would just drift out to sea and eventually sink stations also had tip sites right next door where
all manner of equipment material was thrown. Or even just simply abandoning vehicles, equipment or
whole stations when they were no longer functional or needed. Under the Madrid Protocol, Australia
like all treaty parties has an obligation to clean up waste from past activities. I'd argue
we also have a moral and a social and an ethical obligation to do this. A lot of this material is
exposed and on the surface and it may appear simply a matter of pick it up and take it away
but it's never that simple. The reality is once you remove the debris you're usually left with a
complex mix of chemicals and contaminants that are affecting the soil, the sediment and the water.
Furthermore in a changing climate, sites that were once frozen in ice are now not necessarily going
to stay that way, making it even more important we do this work and we start this work now. And
let's not forget as Jonny pointed out these sites predominantly occur in rare ice-free areas which
represent the greatest terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity and vulnerability across Antarctica.
Most Antarctic stations were constructed and still operate in these biodiversity hot spots so it's
critical we do everything we can to minimize our impacts and protect these truly special places.
I'm now going to talk in more detail about the work of the cleaner Antarctica team. This
flagship program brings together two scientific disciplines. Environmental risk and fuel spill
remediation. And over the next five years they will attempt to answer three key questions.
How bad is it? How do we fix it? And how do we when do we stop?
Defining the nature and extent of contamination is critical. We need to
know what the contaminant is, where it is, how it's moving and where it's moving to.
This information is essential for determining what we do next. Extreme cold means chemicals
can persist in the environment for a long time and they can bio-accumulate. And when the summer
melt arrives it can generate a pulse of water below the ground and above the ground that can
mobilize contaminants over huge distances. You get it. Nothing simple in Antarctica.
Here's an example a diesel spill at the Casey upper fuel Farm saw an amazing mid-winter response
from the team in really difficult conditions but as with most spills not all of the escape fuel
could be recovered before it seeped into the snow and the surrounding environment.
So how do you know where a plume of contaminants is under six meters of snow?
Here the remediation team installed a new type of sensor beneath the snow to measure fuel vapors.
And coupled with detailed drone imagery they were able to develop a model of the
site and understand exactly how and where the fuel was moving. And there it is.
Here's another example. What about assessing a complex mixed waste site such as the abandoned
station at Wilkes? From this drone imagery you can see the piles of drums and rubbish sticking out of
the snow. Traditional soil and water sampling gets you only so far on a site like this.
The team started using geophysical techniques to further determine the type and extent of
contamination beneath the snow. In this case we estimate 17,000 cubic meters of material
on the main tip side. That's over 520 foot shipping containers of rubbish and at least
3,000 old drums. And that's just the waste and debris. There's up to 20,000
cubic meters of contaminated sediment and soil. Understanding what's there is the first part of
this how bad is it question. We also need to understand what's the environmental risk. We
need to know what happens to the biological communities and how they're being impacted.
For Antarctic terrestrial communities sometimes you have to look really closely to see all the
biodiversity in the soil and the water. Most of this life is microscopic things like rotifers,
tardigrades and nematodes. But it's important we understand how these organisms are affected by
these contaminants, what concentrations of these chemicals cause harm to these particular species.
Identifying safe limits can also help us develop stopping rules, so that gives
us a good idea of their environmental risk and the extent of contamination.
So how do we fix it?
As we cite assessments, there's a wide range of challenges we have to overcome
when trying to manage contaminated sites in Antarctica. Contaminants may be stable in
the ground or on the move. How do you stop a plume of contamination
migrating further to a building the ocean or the lake when the summer melt kicks in?
Our remediation experts have developed Antarctic specific in-ground barriers that allow melt water
to pass through while stripping out contaminants. These permeable reactive barriers are designed
to overcome numerous challenges like the fact that melt water only moves for a short period
of time during summer but in a large pulse. And that the barrier needs to be thawed and
ready to receive this water not just a block of frozen material. We need to ensure the reactive
media are in these barriers is suitable for the chemicals that are on the site.
Fuels, metals or a combination of both and that it doesn't break down due to the repetitive freeze
thaw processes. It has to keep working for as long as we need it to. We've done this. We've
been successful at doing this at a number of sites in Antarctica as well as on Macquarie Island.
Even with these highly effective barriers in place
we know from our past monitoring of fuel spills that fuel contaminants won't go away naturally.
In Antarctica fuel contamination if left in the ground will permanently damage the soil ecosystem.
To address this the remediation team developed a way to harness endemic
Antarctic soil microorganisms to literally eat fuel. Micro-organisms are used all across
the world to remediate contaminated soil but our team's been able to modify this
approach so that it works in Antarctica. By moving contaminated soil into our biopiles
and carefully managing the soil environment including, moisture, aeration and nutrients
our remediation program has remediated thousands of tons of soil by and remove thousands of liters
of fuel from the environment. Since we started this work, large-scale remediation work in 2010.
All of this is carried out in carefully designed containment systems that are
engineered and constructed in Antarctica. This has come on the back of small scale field trials
over many seasons. Testing an evaluation of these remediation technologies has been able to deliver
the science that's needed to support the largest soil bioremediation program
currently in Antarctica. We've exported our knowledge and technology to help other programs.
But we've done this up to this point the next question we have is when do we stop?
We have an enormous success in remediating saws into our biopiles but we can't remove all the
contaminants. However, based on site-specific ecotoxicology we can get to a point where the
concentrations of chemicals don't present a substantial risk and the environment can be
functioning sustainably. We've successfully reused hundreds of cubic meters of soil in
buildings at Casey station. This material has been put underneath the buildings and contained and it
supported our infrastructure program. It's also meant that we haven't had to bring material in,
quarry or take material back to Australia. Answering these three questions helps us to
find the sweet spot where assessment, remediation and monitoring delivers the best environmentally
sustainable outcomes for our investment of time and resources.This remediation work will continue
at Casey station this season. We have five people going down south to continue to monitor and work
on the buyer piles. We now have a mega bio pile and it's the largest one in Antarctica.
Where to now?
The next step for the cleaner Antarctica program is to undertake assessments at all of our sites so
we can really understand the extent of the problem and start to make some decisions around informed
actions and priorities for the coming years. This work will be led out of the environmental
stewardship program, working closely with other parts of the science branch such as
the East Antarctic monitoring program, which will inform our understanding of terrestrial and marine
biodiversity to answer that impact question. The challenges ahead for a cleaner Antarctica are many
and large but we start from a position of great strength building on the leading world-leading
work of the AAD's human impacts and Remediation teams, we're extremely well placed to action
this work and enhance Australia's standing among Antarctic programs, by demonstrating
our commitment to addressing Legacy waste and providing tools and solutions that others can use.
As Nicole said in her introduction, science is at the heart of the Australian Antarctic Program.
The environmental stewardship program will conduct the science that helps
ensure Antarctica remains valued, protected and understood. Thank you.