Bouvet Island

Bouvet Island (Norwegian: Bouvetøya) lies in the South Atlantic, roughly 2,400 kilometres southwest of the Cape of Good Hope. It is a small volcanic island, nearly nine-tenths covered by glaciers according to the Norwegian Polar Institute. Steep cliffs surround much of its coast, making access difficult. Olavtoppen, at 780 metres above sea level, is the island’s highest point.

French navigator Jean-Baptiste-Charles Bouvet de Lozier sighted the island in 1739, and it was named after him. Norwegian expeditions landed there in 1927 and claimed it for Norway; after a British claim was waived, Norway annexed the island in 1930. Bouvet is administered as a Norwegian dependency.

Bouvet Island and its territorial waters became a nature reserve in 1971. The Norwegian Polar Institute describes its vegetation as including mosses, lichens, fungi and algae. Seals, penguins and other seabirds are prominent in its wildlife; twelve bird species breed on the island, according to the Institute. The protected status helps conserve its distinctive and isolated environment.

The coastal cliffs and ocean conditions make boat landings hazardous, and helicopter access requires a special permit. The reserve rules protect landscape, wildlife and plant life, and restrict activities that could disturb the environment. Preventing the introduction of non-native species is also important because the island has a particularly isolated ecosystem.