Antarctica 2000, A Notebook

Forest and Bird, Issue 292, 1 May 1999, Page 48

Antarctica 2000, A Notebook

edited by Graeme Tetley, 96pp, Antarctica New Zealand through Craig Potton Publishing 1998, RRP$29.95.

Something new in conference reports, this is a precis of the Proceedings of the Antarctic Futures Workshop 28-30 April 1998 held in Christchurch, dressed up by a film writer and a designer for easy reading. Not only is there a page or more for every speaker: there is a running panel through the book with the lay thoughts and reactions to each paper by the editor as conference observer. The effect of this combination is curious, an attempt perhaps to give colour to the conference ‘proceedings; which in themselves appear to be the editor’s notes rather than the contributors’ abstract. In the right-hand bottom corner a Patagonian toothfish gradually disappears over 90 pages, like an old-fashioned flick-through animation book, while the story of its exploitation by pirate fishers is serially detailed. The Antarctic Futures Workshop, organised by a Government agency, brought together a range of interest groups, including scientists, environmentalists, tourism operators, fishing interests, policy advisers, developers and miners. These were ‘an intriguing three days which challenged established paradigms, moved beyond the polarised debate

about use and protection and laid a platform of shared values and vision.’ For a summary of possibilities in the Antarctic it is an idiosyncratic record.