Climate change in the UKOTs an overview of the ... - JNCC - Defra

Box 2. The UK Overseas Territories in Brief
The 14 United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories are a diverse grouping. They range
from the tiny Pacific island of Pitcairn with 47 inhabitants and a fragile subsistence
economy based on fishing, horticulture, and the sale of handicrafts, to Bermuda just
north of the Caribbean, which has a population of more than 62,000 and is one of
the world's major financial centres. They also include the Sovereign Base Areas on
Cyprus, which are military bases.
The Overseas Territories are: Anguilla; British Antarctic Territory; Bermuda; British
Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands;
Gibraltar; Montserrat; St. Helena and Dependencies (Ascension Island and Tristan
da Cunha); Turks and Caicos Islands; Pitcairn Island; South Georgia and South
Sandwich Islands; and the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus.
The British Antarctic Territory (BAT)
Location: The sector of the Antarctic below latitude
60°S, between longitudes 20°W and 80°W.
20
Size: Total area of 1,709,400 km 2 .
Climate: The coldest, driest and windiest continent
in the world. The average annual temperature at the
South Pole is -49°C.
Topography: Only 1.4% of the BAT’s surface is ice-free. The remainder is covered by
a permanent ice sheet of up to three km thick.
Biodiversity: On land, although vegetation is sparse, there are many types of lichen,
moss and algae. In the surrounding seas, vast amounts of krill provide the basis for
rich marine life. This includes whales, seals and very large numbers of birds
especially petrels and penguins, inhabiting the islands and coastal areas of the
Peninsula. 1
Main economic activities: There is no economic activity in the BAT; however, tourism
is growing. The United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) has a team at Port
Lockroy each season. This historic site usually attracts about 6,000 visitors a year.
Other information: There is no indigenous population in the Territory. The United
Kingdom’s presence is through the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which maintains
two permanently manned scientific stations (at Halley and Rothera) and three
summer-only stations (at Fossil Bluff on Alexander Island, Sky Blue at the base of the
Antarctic Peninsula and Signy in the South Orkney Islands).
South Georgia
Location: An isolated sub-Antarctic island about 1,390 km south east of the Falkland
Islands and about 2,150 km east of Tierra del Fuego. In addition to the main island
there are smaller islands, islets and rocks.
1 UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum. n.d. Promoting Biodiversity Conservation in the UK’s Overseas Territories.
United Kingdom: UKOTCF.
Antarctic and sub-Antarctic
The British Antarctic Territory