1. Issues in Antarctica

2. Antarctica is certainly the most pristine place on earth although it is not as unspoiled as may be imagined. For more than a hundred years people have travelled to Antarctica and most parts have now been visited. More than just footprints have been left and more than just photographs have been taken.

3. Tourism
Antarctica doesn't have any "residents" everyone who goes is a visitor for a short time. There are two groups of visitors who can have an impact on Antarctica, tourists and those who go as part of a national Antarctic programme
Due to the large number of tourists, there have been calls to set limits to reduce these numbers
Tourists impact the environment in a number of ways.

4. Tourists who visited Antarctica in 2012

5. Fishing
The Impact of Fisheries. Fishing is currently the only large-scale resource exploitation that is going on in Antarctica. Most other world fisheries have been over exploited even where controls are in place to prevent this and this has to be a concern for Antarctic fisheries too.
Southern ocean krill is one of the oceans greatest unexploited fisheries stocks.

7. The ozone layer
The seasonal thinning of the ozone layer of the earth's atmosphere above Antarctica, so allowing abnormal amounts of ultra-violet light to reach the earth's surface in those regions.
The depletion of the ozone hole has also caused an overall cooling trend on the Antarctic continent
The loss of ozone has also led to increased winds and storms, both in frequency and strength

9. Pollution
Antarctica is particularly sensitive to the effects of pollution as the environment is near pristine to begin with meaning that any pollution is often more obvious, the cold temperatures mean that the natural processes that help remove pollution in other parts of the world happen far more slowly so it has more of a chance to build up.