Our Story

In 1988, the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) was established. Back then, there was a growing interest in Antarctica and a need for a focused group of experts to ensure effective and collaborative operations, logistics and science support. Today, our Membership has grown from twenty-two Member programs to thirty-three Member and four Observer programs.

Countries engaging in Antarctic research, that are also signatories to the Antarctic Treaty and the Environmental Protocol, may participate in COMNAP. Membership is open to those countries’ national agencies responsible for planning and conducting Antarctic operations in support of science, called the “National Antarctic Programs”. The managers of these organizations become the national COMNAP representative.

COMNAP’s purpose which can be found in its Constitution is to “develop and promote best practice in managing the support of scientific research in Antarctica”. It does this by:
• Serving as a forum to develop practices that improve effectiveness of activities in an environmentally responsible manner;

• Facilitating and promoting international partnerships;

• Providing opportunities and systems for information exchange; and

• Providing the Antarctic Treaty System with objective, practical, technical & non-political advice drawn from the National Antarctic Programs’ pool of expertise.

COMNAP is one of only three Permanent Observer organizations to the annual Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCMs). This important status allows COMNAP to proactively provide advice into the Antarctic Treaty System’s governance structure, including to the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). Published research by Dudeney & Walton (2012) ranked COMNAP as 13th (out of 33) for total sum of Working Papers contributed between 1992–2010, with production of Working Papers “representing leadership and engagement”. You can find all the Working Papers and, in addition, all the Information and Background Papers submitted by COMNAP, to the ATCMs and CEP Meetings on the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat’s Meeting Documents Archive.

COMNAP is a Member-focused organization which is governed by an Executive Committee elected from the Member Managers and Deputy Managers of the National Antarctic Programs. The Executive Committee consists of an elected Chair, five elected Vice Chairs and an appointed Executive Secretary. We also have expertise in our Expert Group Leaders and Co-leaders, our Regional Break-out Group Facilitators, and our Project Leaders. See more about “Our People” here. We also recognise people’s contributions made to the goals and principles of COMNAP through the COMNAP Awards Schemes.

The Secretariat, directed by the Executive Secretary, is the organisation’s headquarters. It is the information hub and focus for assisting Member National Antarctic Programs. The Secretariat is currently located in Christchurch, New Zealand (since October 2009). It was first based in Washington, DC, USA (1988—1997), and then in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia (1997—2009).

Find out more about COMNAP by downloading our brochure (2023) or reading “A Story of International Cooperation: 25 Years of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs”.