Marine plastic pollution is increasing prominence in current discussions on the governance of the world’s oceans. The Southern Ocean is geographically remote but is still significantly impacted by plastic pollution. Plastic pollution in the Southern Ocean can derive from a variety of sources, including waste from research stations and fishing operations within the Treaty Area and, through transport by ocean currents and wind-generated water movements, from outside the Treaty Area. While there is a growing academic literature on marine plastic pollution in Antarctic, there is less attention to date on the response of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) to this issue. This paper analyses how the ATS has engaged with the issue of plastic waste in general, and marine plastic pollution more particularly, from the entry into force of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty in 1998–2019. Our results indicate that from 2017 the ATS has shown increased attention towards addressing locally sourced marine plastic pollution. A significant problem, however, remains with the respect to marine plastic pollution originating from outside Antarctic Treaty Area that requires a governance response from outside the ATS.

中文翻译：

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极地南部的海洋塑料污染：南极条约体系的回应

在当前关于世界海洋治理的讨论中，海洋塑料污染日益受到重视。南大洋地理位置偏远，但仍受到塑料污染的严重影响。南大洋的塑料污染有多种来源，包括条约区内研究站和捕鱼作业产生的废物，以及通过洋流运输和风力产生的水运动，来自条约区外。虽然关于南极海洋塑料污染的学术文献越来越多，但迄今为止对南极条约体系（ATS）对该问题的反应的关注较少。本文分析了 ATS 如何处理一般塑料废物问题，尤其是海洋塑料污染问题，自 1998-2019 年《南极条约环境保护议定书》生效以来。我们的结果表明，从 2017 年开始，ATS 对解决本地来源的海洋塑料污染问题表现出越来越多的关注。然而，一个重大问题仍然存在于源自南极条约区域以外的海洋塑料污染，这需要 ATS 以外的治理响应。