| Base Visits |
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During Work Period 2, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who are responsible for the UK’s input to the Antarctic Treaty System, has tasked HMS Endurance to undertake a series of informal base visits to international Antarctic Research Stations.
Parties to the Antarctic Treaty may undertake formal inspections of Antarctic bases to monitor compliance with the provisions of the Treaty and the Environmental Protocol. The last UK formal inspection programme was in 1999, which was undertaken in partnership with Germany. However, the informal base visits that HMS Endurance is carrying out this year are essentially to gather up-to-date information and promote international co-operation in Antarctica. In particular, those visiting the bases will ask about the size of the base, the type of scientific activity undertaken and any plans for expansion or renovation of the base buildings. The bases to be visited during this season have been selected by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, based on co-location with Endurance’s other tasking and taking into account how recently each base has been either formally inspected (by any Treaty Party), or informally visited previously by the UK. Up to 14 bases and base sites will be visited by Endurance during this Work Period.
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