Historic accounts of international organizations are always of general interest. They may not be the most exciting literature, but they document some important historic steps in a fast changing political world. This certainly applies to this book, put together by a COMNAP insider: Gillian Wratt from New Zealand (COMNAP Chair 1997–2001). It is, however, not the first account of the COMNAP activities (Fowler Reference Fowler2000).

The book consists essentially of three major parts: The History of COMNAP, and COMNAP Members National Antarctic Programmes (currently 29 members), and finally an assortment of appendices with factual information related to COMNAP activities. Part II will not be commented upon in this review, but it offers a useful up-to-date account of modern research in Antarctica.

The entire book is richly illustrated with photographs of Antarctic landscapes and wild life, as well as the very different infrastructures and technical installations on the continent and people “in action”; either in the field or during meetings. Scattered through the book are 25 commisioned texts, covering a wide variety of topics related to COMNAP activities. These include statements from some former COMNAP chairs, accounts on technical items such as stations and laboratories, and the subject of Women in COMNAP. Women were an exception during the early years of Antarctic research, but are nowadays normal participants on the stations, ships and expeditions serving the scientific exploration of Antarctica.

COMNAP (Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs), together with its federal partner SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research; see further below), has to be considered a huge success which can be exemplified by the achievements of the last IPY (International Geophysical Year) (2007–09). Antarctic research and logistics are running relatively smoothly under the guidance of SCAR and COMNAP, and under the political umbrella of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). There are many examples of successful mutual collaboration and assistance which are achieved through COMNAP.

However, there are shortcomings too, as is obvious from this book. It is worth noting that despite the international nature of COMNAP there are astonishingly few internationally run stations, like the French-Italian Concordia Station and the UK-Netherlands Dirck Gerritsz Laboratory at Rothera. It is well known that many of the research stations on Antarctica are not used to capacity, and in spite of initially using existing facilities before establishing their own research programmes many of the new nations to the ATS have choosen to establish their own national stations.

Research activities in Antarctica are today supported by numerous, mostly national stations, many of them located close to the coasts, with fewer of them in the interior. It is not clear if all of them are really needed. The most surprising example is the assemblage of research stations around the tip of the Antarctic Penisula, mainly on King George Island, where COMNAP proposed the APASI (Antarctic Peninsula Advanced Science Information system) under the leadership of INACH, but where COMNAP failed to convince the nations (except Chile) to support this co-ordinating effort (vividly described by the COMNAP Chair who initiated this activity in 2009).

Antarctic research, and the entire politcal system around Antarctica, experienced dramatic and positive changes when the experiences of the IGY 1957–58 helped in getting agreement for an Antarctic Treaty. It was agreed upon with the aim to reserve Antarctica and the adjacent Southern Ocean for international research and to preserve the Antarctic/Southern Ocean environment as pristinely as possible. Just before the Treaty was signed a scientific organization (SCAR) was founded to continue to develop the initiatives of the IGY, and to offer guidance and advice to the Antarctic Treaty. Its history has relatively recently been described and analysed by Walton & Clarkson (Reference Walton and Clarkson2011).

Research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has been going on for more than 100 years, initially in a fairly unregulated fashion. National claims on segments of Antarctica were put aside by the Treaty, but since research in the extremely hostile Antarctic environment was not only expensive, but also dangerous, it needed highly motivated scientists, expensive infrastructure as well as secure and efficient logistics to be successful. SCAR’s membership initially comprised largely senior members of national polar institutes or programmes, who defined the national scientific priorities. It was always clear that logistics would play an important role, and early in its history SCAR formed a permanent Logistics Working Group. But as Antarctic science operations developed, activities sometimes required determined and rapid decision making which SCAR was inadequately structured to provide in a timely fashion. A growing uneasiness developed between the two actors, helped by some national programme managers with strong opinions and characters.

As described in this book, managers of the national programmes started to meet separately on the side of the formal SCAR meetings, with the growing numbers of SCAR members adding complexity to the discussions. The managers developed frustrations about the limited way they could influence SCAR science prioritization. In the mid-eighties (when SCAR leadership obviously did not provide for strength and vision) the managers established their own council, with their own list of priorities and management concerns. In 1988 they finally decided to split away from SCAR as a new independent organization COMNAP, while maintaining a loose contact to SCAR in the form of a “Federation”.

Whilst the co-operation between COMNAP and SCAR has functioned reasonably well under the chairs from both sides, there is still a certain degree of fuzziness about the distribution of responsibilities. This concerns the distribution of environmental responsibilities, the establishment of long time series and monitoring programmes, and a number of biological questions which are claimed by CCAMLR (established in 1980). In the original Antarctic Treaty, science was one of the top priorities, but this has been watered down since the establishment of the CEP 1991 and CCAMLR (with environmental protection and conservation, respectively, as main themes). The results of two internal COMNAP reviews are discussed in the book and after 25 years of existence it may be timely to initiate a truly external and thorough review of COMNAP and its links to ATCM and the other science related ATCM observers.

In conclusion, the book is likely to be of great interest to many who have worked in the Antarctic, as the primary author and the many other contributors provide a fascinating and well-informed account of the active and former players who raise their voice about the history of an exciting chapter of modern research and its political context.