Ant-ICON Science and Implementation Plan

Dear Colleagues,

At the end of July, Mecha and I traveled to Plovdiv, Bulgaria to participate in the SCAR Programme Planning Group Leaders Meeting, and present the draft Ant-ICON Science and Implementation Plan to the SCAR Executive Committee.

Both meeting were extremely useful, particularly with regard to identifying synergies between the developing SRPs, and receiving useful guidance and feedback on how the developing Ant-ICON Science and Implementation Plan could be improved.

During the meetings Mecha and I, together with some invaluable input from Daniela Liggett, Chandrika Nath and other attendees, revised the Ant-ICON S&I Plan. We have continued to work on incorporating feedback over the last few weeks, and  have now arrived at a near complete draft, which is attached for your further consideration.

Some sections still need a bit of work, but we feel that it is now at a stage where it can be disseminated more broadly to interested members of the SCAR scientific community and other stakeholders to raise the profile of this emerging initiative and hear any feedback that might be forthcoming. We’d also encourage you to disseminate this through your networks to interested colleagues.

Both the plan and an updated overview presentation have been uploaded to the Ant-ICON home page, and can be accessed using the following link under the Publications tab (https://scar.org/science/ant-icon/resources/).  Mecha and I will undertake the broader dissemination, through various SCAR mailing lists, directly to key policy end users and other interested stakeholders including NGOs.

Mecha and I also encourage you to disseminate this plan through your networks to help raise awareness and to ensure anyone who is interested in following progress can join the mailing list. I am currently compiling an informal mailing list of interested persons, so if people do indicate interest, please let them know they can contact me directly and I will add their names.

We have a number of tasks ahead of us over  the next few months as we aim to finalize the plan. This includes the completion of the Supporting Information that will accompany the S&I Plan, the preparation of a 2-page  ‘marketing document’ and finalization of the make-up of the proposed Steering Committee (see section D – Management in the attached). With regard to the latter, please let me know if you would like to express interest in any of the Steering Committee positions as we need to start a list of potential names as soon as possible.

We received considerable input again in the last round, and while it was sometimes challenging to incorporate everything, we think most people’s comments and suggestions have been addressed. Nevertheless, the Science and Implementation Plan is still a work in progress, so please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have further input.

We hope to have a final draft completed by the end of October. It is likely that most of the consultation between now and then will be electronic, however, Mecha and I will hold at least one meeting  in the margins of the CCAMLR meetings, which will be in Hobart from the 21 Oct-1 Nov 2019. Please let me know if you are likely to be in Hobart for these meetings and we will ensure that we include you in any correspondence regarding Ant-ICON discussions.

Many thanks once again for your interest and active engagement. It’s a pleasure to work with such a knowledgeable and enthusiastic planning group.

All the best

Aleks and Mecha

Dr. Aleks Terauds

Senior Research Scientist and Section Head |Biodiversity Conservation | Australian Antarctic Division | Kingston | Tasmania | Australia

Chief Officer – SCAR Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System

P: +61 3 6232 3339 |E: aleks.terauds@gmail.com | Alt E: Aleks.Terauds@aad.gov.au