Economic growth is being lost at a time of mounting environmental, geopolitical and funding pressure on Antarctic programmes.
University of Canterbury researchers have identified about 5800 people working directly or indirectly in Antarctic-related roles.
They have found the full scale of the city’s Antarctic workforce is wider than previously thought — spanning science, logistics, trades, tourism, education, port operations and local business.
Researchers are suggesting better co-ordination would create more jobs, training pathways and business opportunities.
The research reveals priorities needed to support Christchurch’s future as an Antarctic gateway.
The last economic analysis of Antarctic-related work carried out by Lincoln University in 2023 estimated it was contributing $158.3m to Canterbury and $229.3m nationally.
UC Gateway Antarctica postdoctoral fellow Dr Gabriela Roldan said the economic impact could be expected to have increased since then and showed the significance of the sector to the region.
She said researchers had been closely following the growth of the Antarctic workforce and had a better grasp of the full range of roles beyond those travelling to work on the ice.
‘‘We think about Antarctica and Antarctic research as happening in the continent itself, but we don’t think about all the organisation, planning, preparation, training and education that has to happen before a single person goes south to work.’’
She said there was an opportunity to build on this economic impact by making the Christchurch’s Antarctic sector more connected and by planning for future demand for science, transport, travel and business support.
‘‘We also found that many stakeholders, despite working in the same sector, largely operated in silos and had limited awareness of each other’s work. They knew of each other but had not worked closely together. This highlighted an opportunity to strengthen collaboration through the Antarctic Gateway Strategy and make the most of that advantage.’’
She said raising the profile of the gateway city’s strategy would increase interest from other businesses, service providers and potentially more international partners travelling to Antarctica, particularly the Ross Sea area.
‘‘They would like more visibility into what the local skills and capacity of this workforce had including opportunities for specific jobs, services, satellite communication, construction and streamlining employment processes.’’
This was revealed during a 2024 workshop when representatives were brought together from local and national government, universities, tourism, logistics, training providers and local businesses.
Aside from Christchurch, the other Antarctic gateway cities are Hobart in Australia, Cape Town in South Africa, Ushuaia in Argentina and Punta Arenas in Chile.
Christchurch is the base for Antarctic programmes by New Zealand, the United States, Italy and South Korea and is a gateway for countries such as Germany and China.
Dr Roldan said these countries travelled through the city, launched teams and scientists and carried out work such as repairs to equipment.
She said gateway cities had historically competed against each other, but understanding of Antarctica’s importance to the rest of the world had increased.
‘‘We have to remember Antarctica is an international place for peace and international collaboration.’’
Instead of Christchurch competing with other cities it should work with them as they complemented each other with their access to different parts of the Antarctic.
Antarctica was an inhospitable region and the weather might prevent teams from travelling through or returning to a gateway city and an alternative route was needed via another gateway city, she said.
‘‘This research comes at a time of significant geopolitical and environmental pressure on Antarctic governance, making international collaboration more important than ever. The Antarctic Treaty System, which operates by consensus, is under strain as member nations face competing priorities and, in some cases, direct conflict. Budget cuts and funding uncertainty for Antarctic programmes also have flow-on effects on Christchurch’s workforce and economy.’’
Dr Roldan said economic development agency ChristchurchNZ was understood to be approaching research groups to update the economic report.
