Marion Island, described by an early admirer as “a jade jewel rising out of the sea”, is one of the most remote places on Earth.
Around 2 170km south-east of Cape Town, the 295km2 island and Prince Edward Island, its much smaller neighbour just 19km to the north, together form the Prince Edward Island group: two tiny specks of volcanic detritus that started emerging from the vast surrounding ocean only some 500 000 years ago.
In geological terms they are complete newcomers, yet biologically they teem with unique plant and animal life and are particularly significant as the internationally-important breeding sites of a large diversity of marine mammals and seabirds, such as the intriguing Southern Elephant Seal and the majestic Wandering Albatross.
The group forms one of a small, irregular string of sub-Antarctic island groups in the Southern Ocean, a massive body of water that sweeps the high latitudes of the southern hemisphere virtually unchecked by any big land mass and that plays a significant role in the global weather and climate.
Other islands in this string include Marion’s closest foreign neighbour, the French territory of îles Crozet to the east; another French island group, the îles Kerguelen; the Australian islands of Heard, Macdonald and Macquarie; the contested Falklands/Islas Malvinas (Britain/Argentina); and Britain’s South Georgia.
This week, the guest of honour, Deputy Minister of Public Works Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, and a party of VIPs arrived at Marion after a five-day voyage on the supply ship SA Agulhas for the inauguration last night of a new base at a cost of R200 million.
While the base, 10 years in the making, will be in demand by scientists from around the world, most of their visits will be brief. For much of the year, Marion will continue to be occupied only by the Department of Environmental Affairs’ annual relief team.
Prince Edward has never been occupied, and visits to this near-pristine island are kept to an absolute minimum, in theory restricted to a very small party of researchers only once every four years.
Given the huge and urgent demand on the country’s fiscus to fund social needs such as housing, schools, clinics and hospitals, how can South Africa possibly justify spending such a huge amount on a state-of-the-art, ultra modern, 80-bed base on this verdant but gale-blasted speck used by a relatively small number of people?
Professor Steven Chown, director of Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Invasion Biology and a veteran Marion Island researcher – he first worked there as an undergraduate assistant in 1983 and has chaired the Prince Edward Island management committee – gives two answers.
The first, he acknowledges, is flippant, although relevant: last year we also built several new soccer stadiums at a cost of several billions of rands.
His second, longer answer is more serious.
Any country that wants to benefit its people and make their environment more liveable needs to develop. Research and development are prerequisites for progress and to find solutions to problems.
Of course, potential solutions can be bought from outside experts, although their advice still has to be evaluated and interpreted at a local level.
“But the better step is to develop your own research and development and provide your own answers. That’s what makes a country a leader,” says Chown.
“It’s not about focusing on economic growth but on making the world more liveable for everyone.”
It’s science that can provide the answers to difficult problems, so there’s a real need to persuade young people that science as a career is an attractive, exciting and worthwhile option,.
South Africa’s extensive Antarctic research programme, with its intoxicating blend of meaningful scientific challenges and exotic, adventurous places like Marion Island and Antarctica in which to pursue them, can achieve just that, he says.
“It hooks students into science. So that’s the first justification – we need attractive projects to keep our own people involved in science, otherwise we’re always going to be at the mercy of others.”
Another reason for a science-enabling environment on Marion Island relates to geopolitics within the Antarctic Treaty system, the management vehicle for the strategically important Southern Ocean region.
Having a world-class scientific capability boosts South Africa’s status and influence within this community, Chown says.
And its record of good science translated into good policies means the country is taken seriously in international negotiations.
“We are having a huge influence,” he says.
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