GSGSSI Stakeholder Meeting, July 2024
July 15, 2024
On the 9th July 2024, GSGSSI welcomed friends and colleagues to the Fitzwilliam College in Cambridge for the annual South Georgia Stakeholder Meeting. Owing to global events, this was the first in-person stakeholder meeting since 2019 and it reinforced just how important it is for us to spend time together, catching up on recent achievements, ongoing workplans and future aspirations.
During the morning session GSGSSI shared many operational updates alongside information on policy and strategy developments and SGSSI laws and legislation. One of our Government Officers gave a unique perspective on living and working at King Edward Point, and a tourism presentation highlighted the challenges of recent seasons and updates to visitor management plans. Following a splendid lunch which allowed participants to catch up with old friends and network with new contacts, the afternoon session had more of an environmental focus. A summary of the recently concluded 5-year MPA Review was followed by updates from two highly successful Darwin Plus funded projects on terrestrial invasive species and whale recovery that have been carried out at SGSSI. The impacts of avian influenza at South Georgia and management measures for the 2024/25 visitor season were also explained, and South Georgia Heritage Trust gave a very informative presentation on work being done at the museum at Grytviken and the Whalers Memory Bank Project in Scotland. The day concluded with an update on Government finances and a lively question and answer session where stakeholders could quiz GSGSSI on any issues of interest.
GSGSSI would like to thank all those who made the trip to Cambridge to attend in person, and also to those who joined online. As a small Government, support from our stakeholder community is vital and it is only through a wide range of collaborative endeavours that we can deliver our ambitious vision for the future of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.