Monitoring
and Assessment
The AMAP is a process integrating
both monitoring and assessment activities, in order
to:
- produce integrated assessment reports on the pollution
status and trends of the conditions of Arctic ecosystems;
- identify possible causes for changing conditions;
- detect emerging problems, their possible causes,
and the potential risk to Arctic ecosystems including
indigenous peoples and other Arctic residents;
- recommend actions required to reduce risks to
Arctic ecosystems.
To prepare its assessments, AMAP:
- designed and implemented a coordinated monitoring
programme to monitor the levels of pollutants and
assess the effects of pollution in all compartments
of the Arctic environment (the atmospheric, terrestrial,
freshwater and marine environments, and human populations);
- instituted an assessment process to produce assessment
reports. The AMAP assessments are performed according
to agreed guidelines and are based on: (i) data
already published in scientific literature, (ii)
data obtained from AMAP’s monitoring programme,
and (iii) traditional knowledge.
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AMAP's priorities include
the following contaminant groups and issues:
- Persistent organic contaminants (POPs)
- Heavy metals (in particular mercury, cadmium,
and lead)
- Radioactivity
- Acidification and Arctic haze (in a subregional
context)
- Petroleum hydrocarbon pollution (in a subregional
context)
- Climate change (environmental consequences and
biological effects in the Arctic resulting from
global climate change)
- Stratospheric ozone depletion (biological effects
due to increased UV-B, etc)
- Effects of pollution on the health of humans living
in the Arctic (including effects of increased UV
radiation as a result of ozone depletion, and climate
change)
- Combined effects of pollutants and other stressors
on both ecosystems and humans
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AMAP’s
Monitoring Programme |
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The AMAP Trends and
Effects Monitoring Programme is designed to monitor
the levels of pollutants and their effects in all
compartments of the Arctic environment. It defines
five subprogrammes concerning the atmospheric, terrestrial,
freshwater, and marine environments, and human populations
with respect to human health. The subprogrammes are
defined in terms of essential and recommended parameters
and media (matrices) to be monitored on a circumpolar
or subregional level. The programme includes both
monitoring and research components,
and special studies that yield information that is
vital for the valid interpretation of monitoring data.
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Monitoring
Strategy and Harmonization |
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The monitoring work within
AMAP is based, as far as possible, on existing national
and international monitoring and research programs,
aiming to harmonize these to the extent possible.
Each country defines its own National Implementation
Plan (NIP) to meet the AMAP monitoring objectives.
Monitoring projects are carried out within each of
the participating countries and across borders under
bilateral and multilateral cooperations. Efforts are
made to harmonize existing and new programs with respect
to methodologies and quality assurance.
An AMAP Project Directory of
Arctic research and monitoring projects was compiled
to describe the AMAP implementation plan activities
and assist AMAP assessment experts in identification
of data sources. This directory will be updated during
the second half of 1999 to describe activities relevant
to AMAP's future assessment work.
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AMAP produces two types
of Assessment reports:
- The ‘AMAP Assessment Reports’ (AARs) are fully
referenced, comprehensive, technical and scientifically
presented assessment of all validated data on the
status of the Arctic environment relative to the
AMAP mandate. They constitutes the background material
and provides the accessible scientific basis and
validation for any statements made in the Ministerial
(SOAER) reports
- The 'State of the Arctic Environment Reports'
(SOAERs) are more concise reports presenting the
results of AMAP and its assessment, and including
an executive summary with recommendations specifically
addressed to Ministers.
The first AMAP assessment reports were
produced in 1997, and a series of comprehensive updates
produced in 2002.
A regional environmental assessment
involves ‘compilation of current knowledge about
a specific area, an evaluation of this information
in relation to agreed criteria of environmental quality,
and a statement of the prevailing conditions in the
area’. AMAP recognizes that a considerable amount
of data and information already exist and should be
taken into account in the AMAP assessment.
Comprehensive assessments of regional
areas are useful to both managers and scientists in:
- providing a concise summary of contemporary knowledge
and necessary management action;
- enabling the identification of significant gaps
in knowledge and, accordingly, providing an authoritative
basis for defining priorities for future scientific
and other investigations;
- providing a basis for judging the effectiveness and adequacy
of environmental protection measures and for making necessary
adjustments.
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