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The ‘Gabriel de Castilla’ Base passes an external audit of its Environmental Management System

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Number: 7866

As happens every year, the Environmental Management System of the Spanish Antarctic Base (BAE, to use the Spanish acronym) ‘Gabriel de Castilla’ has been externally audited. The process began a few months ago with a lot of desk work and operational work and was successfully finished on the 20th of February.

On that day, the chief auditor from the external institute of certification and the environmental officer from the Army’s previous Antarctic Campaign went to the Headquarters of the Health Brigade in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), where they were received by the technical body. Previously, they were able to connect with the chief of the base and the current environment officer through a videoconference.

Previously, these facilities were exhaustively audited internally by the Infrastructure Management as required by regulation. Part of the Environmental Management System includes encouraging awareness amongst the civilian and military staff in the BAE through continuously imparted training by both the environment officer and the Spanish Polar Committee.

Amongst the challenges which the base has faced during the current Antarctic Campaign is the building of a 120 linear metre retaining wall by the Engineering Command. The Logistical Brigade was responsible for moving 250 tonnes of equipment to the BAE in a complex logistical operation after completing a strict Environmental Impact Evaluation by the Spanish Polar Committee.

Likewise, 10,000 kilos of waste (generated, in part, by the demolition of the previous wall) will be collected and managed with the support of the Oceanographic Research Vessel 'Hespérides'. As well as this, three new 20-foot containers will replace the most damaged ones to allow for the correct maintenance of the facilities.

Inspection of waste separation

Inspection of waste separation