On The Mechanism Of Environmental Protection Of Antarctic Tourism From The Perspective Of International Law

After the 1990 s,Antarctic tourism gradually developed.According to statistics,from 1990 to 1991,the number of tourists to Antarctica reached 4,840,compared with 780 10 years ago,an increase of 5 times,and the number has increased every year since then.The trend reached a peak of 46,256 people from 2007 to 2008.Although the number of tourists to Antarctica declined slightly in the following years due to the financial crisis,but in recent years,with the global economic stability,the number has gradually increased.The rapidly developing tourism industry has caused great damage to the originally fragile Antarctic ecological environment,and these damages are likely to cause irreversible damage to the Antarctic area.For example,the passenger oil spill pollutes the ocean and threatens the safety of marine life;tourists enter Antarctica,trampling Antarctic vegetation,disturbing Antarctic animals,discarding waste,and other damage to the Antarctic ecosystem;the destruction of Antarctic ecological environment by a lot of infrastructure construction.The current Antarctic international legal system has begun to take shape.Its main legal source is the Antarctic treaty system,including the Antarctic Treaty,the Antarctic Treaty Protocol on Environmental Protection and its annexes,the documents of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Conference,etc.The regulations of the Antarctic Tourist Association,etc.,these legal documents have many provisions on environmental protection of Antarctic tourism,such as advance notice clauses,environmental impact assessment clauses,Antarctic animal and plant protection clauses,waste disposal and waste management clauses,etc.They have played a certain positive role in regulating Antarctic tourism behavior,but they also have many shortcomings,such as environmental impact assessment standards are not uniform,legal liability regulations are not clear,most of the provisions are not binding,treaties have no effect on non-parties,and coherence between treaties and the domestic law of the parties.In order to make the best use of international law,it is necessary to improve its deficiencies,such as the formulation of tourism annexes to specifically regulate Antarctic tourism behavior,strengthen international law enforcement cooperation,and strengthen polar education.In addition,the establishment of a good legal order for environmental protection in Antarctic tourism is also inseparable from the cooperation of domestic legislation,justice and administration.Since the 1980 s,China has gradually carried out scientific expeditions in the Antarctic region,and with the economic development,China’s Antarctic tourism has also developed rapidly,and the number of people who visit Antarctica each year is among the highest in the world.In 2005,China has visited less than 100 people in Antarctica,and by 2007 it had reached almost 5,300.It became the second largest source country of Antarctica tourism,second only to the United States.In this context,As a party to the Antarctic Treaty,fulfilling its obligations as a state party and regulating the travel of Chinese citizens to Antarctica have imposed new requirements on our domestic legislation.China’s existing "Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China","Tourism Law of the People’s Republic of China","Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the People’s Republic of China",etc.,the former two do not have extraterritorial effects,and the scope of environmental impact assessment does not include Antarctic tourism activities In the past two years,China has successively adopted and started to implement the “Administrative Regulations on Environmental Impact Assessment of Antarctic Expeditions” and “Administrative Regulations on Environmental Protection of Antarctic Activities”.It has made more detailed regulations on the behaviors of tourism organizers,operators and tourists,and also proposed the provisions of environmental impact assessment before the activities.This has a great effect on regulating the national Antarctic activities of our citizens,and It also underlines the image of our country as a responsible power.Although China has made some progress in the regulation of Antarctic tourism activities,there are still many things we need to improve.Under the premise of following the principles of sustainable development,precautionary principles,etc.,China should improve existing domestic legislation,appropriately expand the scope of regulation,establish a systematic tourism management system,set up an Antarctic tourism management department,and be responsible for domestic Antarctic tourism matters Examine and approve the qualifications of tour operators and regulate tourist behavior.Only in this way will the Antarctic tourism activities in China enter the benign track of "sustainable development" and also provide theoretical and practical support for the improvement of the relevant international legal system.