An account of surveying in the Falkland Islands Dependencies could be treated as just another description of surveying in one of the outlying parts of the Empire. There is one major difference in comparison with other Colonies, however, which affects the whole outlook and conduct of the survey. This is that in the part of the Dependencies with which we are concerned, namely Graham Land and the Islands to the north, there is no permanent human habitation and no regular means of communication.

I must refer briefly to the historical background of these surveys and the reason for their commission, especially the latter, as without a full understanding of the need and future use of a survey one cannot examine critically the methods used.

Next I shall describe the methods of survey that have been used, which will inevitably entail describing the type of country and various difficulties peculiar to the polar regions.

A summary of the accomplishments up to date will be very brief, as these are shown in the maps that have been published by the Directorate of Colonial Surveys and some of which will be on exhibition.

Finally I shall consider some proposals for future surveys in this territory.

In an attempt to settle the dispute between the United Kingdom, Argentina and Chile over sovereignty in the Falkland Islands Dependencies, the United Kingdom made unilateral Applications to the International Court of Justice at The Hague on 4 May 1955. The Applications set out the British title, and asked the Court to declare that the Argentine and Chilean encroachments in British Antarctic territory were illegal and invalid under international law.

Both the Argentine and Chilean Governments refused to accept the jurisdiction of the Court.* The United Kingdom Government subsequently expressed its regret at these refusals, and placed on record the fact that it had now taken every step open to it to bring about a peaceful and amicable determination of this question of sovereignty in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Charter of the United Nations. On 18 March 1956 the International Court announced that since neither Argentina nor Chile was prepared to accept the Court's jurisdiction, both cases had been removed from its list.

In the last issue of the Polar Record an impending readjustment of the constitution of the Scott Polar Research Institute was announced. This was formally approved by the University on 23 February 1957, and comes into force as from 1 January 1957. The following is the full text of the report of the General Board of the University:

The General Board beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The principle of the establishment of a Scott Polar Research Institute and the provision of temporary accommodation for it in the Sedgwick Museum of Geology were approved by Grace 4 of 26 November 1920 on recommendations contained in a Report, dated 11 November 1920, of the Council of the Senate on the proposed establishment and endowment of an institute for polar research as a memorial to Captain Scott. The essential features of the institute which the Council recommended for establishment were stated in the preamble of the Council's Report as including:

1. A comprehensive collection of all polar literature into a library.

This article is dedicated to the aggravation of negative natural and anthropogenous changes in Central Siberia in the Yenisei River geo-system. These changes are probably the result of global warming and climate destabilisation combined with intensified destructive processes in the region.

The last decades were characterised by the following:

1. 1. Growth of mean annual temperatures and change of annual climate structure resulting in extreme weather and hydrologic situations;

2. 2. Large-scale degradation of insular permafrost with corresponding decrease of their water-cut;

3. 3. Dry thunderstorms, fires, forest disease outbreaks became more frequent and abundant in the large areas;

4. 4. Forage resources failures and game animals’ depletion in numbers became more frequent;

5. 5. Overgrowing of the Angara and the Yenisei Rivers. Significant drop of spawning sites’ reproductive functions;

6. 6. Northern borders of some wild populations’ habitats started moving further north;

7. 7. Aggravation of boat traffic conditions and traditional use of natural resources;

8. 8. Taiga lost its fire-suppression and chemical-protection functions almost completely;

9. 9. Some issues have emerged regarding protection of people and domestic animals against natural-endemic diseases as well as predators;