Monday, February 21, 2011: 9:45 AM
146B (Washington Convention Center )
Lars-Otto Reiersen
,
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program Secretariat, Oslo, Norway
AMAP was initiated in 1991 by ministers from the eight Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and USA) and is today one of the working groups under the Arctic Council. The main task for AMAP has been to perform monitoring and assessment of the pollution of the Arctic, including documentations of effects on biota and humans. In 1993 AMAP was asked to include assessment of climate change and UV/ozone. In 1997 the first comprehensive circumpolar AMAP assessment was presented covering issues like persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals, radionuclides, oil and gas, climate and UV and human health. Since then several scientific based assessments have been prepared by AMAP - alone or as joint products with other international organizations. In 2004 the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) was presented as a joint work between AMAP and CAFF (Conservation of Arctic Fauna and Flora) and IASC (International Arctic Science Committee). In May this year AMAP in cooperation with IASC and CliC will present a new assessment of the Arctic Cryosphere, Sea Ice, Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic Ice Caps, Snow and Permafrost, Frozen Lakes and Rivers.
This presentation will give a short introduction to the Arctic Council and AMAP, the priority work and the international cooperation that has been established. Results from the assessments regarding levels, trends and effects of contaminants and effects due to climate change on the Arctic marine environment will be presented. Finally the presentation will cover some information about actions taken to reduce the threat to the Arctic ecosystems and humans and an initiative taken to improve the research and monitoring activities and access to data in the Arctic – the SAON process.
To improve the availability of new scientific results for future AMAP assessments, scientists are kindly requested to register their ongoing projects in the AMAP Project Directory at the AMAP web site: http://www.amap.no/Resources/ProjectDirectory.htm
By completing this form scientists will inform us and the Arctic scientific community in general about who is doing what where and how data gathered are handled and stored. All AMAP assessment reports are available from the AMAP web site www.amap.no
