
arctic monitoring and assessment programme

the arctic monitoring and assessment programme, which was established in 1991, is an arctic council working group, whose main function is to advise the governments of the eight arctic member nationscanada, denmark, finland, iceland, norway, russia, sweden and the united stateson environment-related issues such as pollution. a 2022 european climate adaptation platform climate (climate-adapt) document described the amap's work as a cooperative effort involving scientists and indigenous peoples, as well as representatives of the eight nations.
overview.
in a 2020 journal article in "chemistry international", the authors said amap's monitoring and assessments have informed the united nations environment programme (unep), convention on long-range transboundary air pollution (lrtap), and the world health organization (who) on issues related to reduction of toxic and polluting chemical emissions. according to the article, there has been an increase in scientific cooperation between the eight member nations and a visible reduction in both political and military tension in the circumpolar arctic since amap was established over three decades ago.
the authors also noted that the work of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) was influenced significantly by amap reports on snow, water, ice and permafrost in the arctic (swipa). the release of the 2011 amap report swipa climate change was welcomed at the may 12, 2011 ministerial meeting by the then-united states secretary of state, hillary clinton in nuuk, greenland. the report was described as a "major science report on the state of the arctic cryosphere" and the united states department of state urged other member nations to "respond to the swipa assessment's findings and recommendations". a "polar science" journal article, "the urgency of arctic change", builds on 2017 amap assessments. 
according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) pacific marine environmental laboratory (pmel)a united states federal laboratorythe annual arctic report card, which tracks the ways in which the environment has changed, undergoes an independent peer review organized by the amap. one hundred forty-seven researchers from eleven countries submit eleven essays for the amap review.
the establishment of aeps' amap was the "fundamental building block" for the stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants (pops) agreement. from the mid-1980s to 2000, research by atmospheric chemists revealed that pops contaminating inuit country food, could be tied to long-range atmospheric transport of pops from the south to the arctic. 
history.
in murmansk in 1987, then soviet secretary-general, mikhail gorbachev, introduced the idea of arctic nations cooperating on various issues including environment protection. 
in 1989, discussions began between the eight arctic nationscanada, denmark, finland, iceland, norway, russiathen the soviet union, sweden and the united states, which resulted in the establishment of the arctic environmental protection strategy (aeps) in june 1991 in rovaniemi, finland. amapalong with four other working groupswas established at that time under the aeps.
the work on the environment in the arctic began with amapfirst when amap was an aesp task force and then an arctic council working group. before any environmental protection measures were put in place, amap first assessed the arctic environmentboth existing problems and potential problems in the future. in this way, amap has been the "core activity of arctic environmental cooperation" since the beginning.
when the "high-level intergovernmental forum", arctic council, was established on september 19, 1996 in ottawa, canada, it was mandated to oversee and coordinate the five working groups, including the amap. the integration of the aeps programmes within the artic council was finalized in 1997 in norway.
in 2003, the inuit circumpolar council (icc) assisted the amap in the preparation of its circumpolar assessment.
the amap undertakes a mercury assessment every ten years. the amap has collaborated on two of the four peer-reviewed global mercury assessments undertaken by the united nations environment programme (unep), including the report published in 2019. in 2002, unep published the first
global mercury assessmentthe second in 2008, the third in 2013, and the fourth in 2018. the scientific basis for the minamata convention on mercurythat came into force in august 2017was provided by these reports. unep undertakes hg literature reviews every five years as part of the minamata convention in collaboration with amap.
in a 2022 "nature reviews earth & environment" article, amap researchers reported that "200 tonnes of mercury end up in the arctic ocean" every year. in the 2010s, scientists focused on mercury contamination caused by human activities. by 2022, understanding of sources of mercury entering the ocean has become more refinedwith one third coming from the atmosphere, 25% from ocean currents, 20% from river flows, and 20% from coastal erosion. the significant amount of mercury released from permafrost as it thaws raises concerns about ingestion of mercury by polar bears, pilot whales, narwhals, beluga and hooded sealsthe source of food for inuit in the arctic.
mandate.
the amap monitors and assesses components of the aeps. starting in 1996, amap focused its monitoring and assessments in the arctic on chemical and radioactive contaminants.
organization.
amap was first chaired in 1997 from oslo, norway under aeps. since 1996, the arctic council oversees and coordinates amap's efforts.
geographical coverage.
amap's research covers the high arctic and sub-arctic regions in the circumpolar arctic.
references.
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