Norwegian authorities’ prioritisation of the Arctic Council’s climate change work

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5.2.2 Work on environmental toxins in the Arctic Council

In the Arctic Council, it is particularly the AMAP and ACAP working groups that work on the issues of pollution and environmental toxins in the Arctic. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme Working Group AMAP According to AMAP’s strategic plan, one of the objectives is to ensure a robust circumpolar monitoring network that eiciently detects changes and negative trends throughout the Arctic region for a number of environmental factors – including contaminants, climate change and combinations of these. AMAP has also established an expert group on environmental toxins. AMAP prioritises the following issues in contaminants: • persistent organic pollutants POPs • heavy metals particularly mercury, cadmium and lead • radioactivity • acidiication and Arctic haze i.e. visible air pollution • contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons oil and gas pollution • combined efects of pollutants and other factors that afect both ecosystems and people in the Arctic 175 AMAP is an extension of the Arctic environmental protection cooperation from 1989 cf. AEPS and since the establishment of the Arctic Council in 1996 has produced several reports on pollution and contaminants in the Arctic and how this afects people and animals living in the Arctic. Table 3 provides an overview of AMAP’s key reports in this context and the manner in which the reports are referred to in the ministerial declarations. Table 3 AMAP’s work on contaminants in the Arctic and discussion at Ministerial Meetings Ministerial declaration Type of report and contents Report recommendations adopted at Ministerial Meeting 1998 Report on POPs, heavy metals, radioactivity, acidiication and impact of environmental toxins on nature and humans The Iqaluit Declaration, 1998 2002 Updating of data and information about POPs, heavy metals, radioactivity and impact on human health The Inari Declaration, 2002 2006 Updating of data and information on acidify- ing pollutants in the Arctic The Salekhard Declaration, 2006 2009 Updating of data and information about POPs, radioactivity and human health Only generally, no mention of this update explicitly Tromsø, 2009 2011 Mercury General support for efforts to establish an international agreement on mercury Nuuk, 2011 2013 Acidiication of the oceans Kiruna, 2013 Source: AMAP’s list of reports and studies on pollution in the Arctic and the ministerial declarations AMAP’s irst report is a status report which established a basis for knowledge about pollutants throughout the Arctic. Later studies have concentrated on updating know- ledge of environmental toxins and reports on speciic topics such as mercury. Many parties have pointed out that this work has been of great importance for knowledge about pollutants in the Arctic. 176 175 Interviews with AMAP on 28 February 2012 and 13 June 2013 and www.amap.no. 176 In addition to Norwegian authorities, the European Science Foundation pointed out the same. 83 Document 3:3 2014–2015 Report As for climate change, both the Ministry of Foreign Afairs and the Ministry of the Environment pointed out in general that AMAP is key to the Arctic Council’s work. 177 The Ministry of the Environment noted that AMAP has brought forth many important results through its many projects and related reports and is a major player in com- piling the monitoring of environmental conditions in the Arctic. 178 Arctic Contaminants Action Program Working Group ACAP While the AMAP’s role is to compile information about the sources and efects of pol- lution, the role of the ACAP Working Group Arctic Contaminants Action Program is to promote and support national eforts to reduce pollution in the Arctic. 179 ACAP was established in 1996 as a direct result of pollution in the Arctic. The Ministry of the Environment added that ACAP was created on the basis of environmental problems in Russia, which consistently has had the greatest environmental challenges among the Arctic states. The working group has therefore mainly had projects in Russia. 180 ACAP’s paramount goal is to prevent adverse efects, reduce and ultimately eliminate pollution in the Arctic environment. 181 According to ACAP’s overall strategy from 2000, the mandate of the working group is to be a support mechanism for promoting national initiatives to reduce emissions and pollution. ACAP is divided into project steering groups that coordinate several smaller projects under the same topic. At 20132014, ACAP has the following project steering groups in the following technical areas: • pesticides • mercury • PCBs • hazardous waste • dioxines • action programme to combat pollution that afects indigenous peoples in the Arctic • brominated lame retardants closed, without result • short-lived climate forcers The Norwegian Environment Agency, however, pointed out that activity and the number of projects in the diferent groups varies, partly based on the interest in the work among the diferent countries. The Ministry of the Environment added that as of September 2013 several of these groups were inactive, and that this Russia-focused working group largely exists on the periphery of the other working groups. The Ministry stated that in the future, ACAP should include projects in all the Arctic states, and should no longer be aimed only at Russian afairs. The Ministry of Foreign Afairs noted that the working group has had a lack of implementation capacity and low achievement. The Norwegian Environment Agency stated that ACAP is diferent from the other working groups because it is supposed to implement speciic pollution-reducing measures. The work programme is still general and discusses only the topics ACAP is to work on – speciic project descriptions are not enclosed. In recent years, only one new speciic project has been submitted for approval in ACAP. The project concerns work to reduce emissions of soot as a result of burning 177 Interview with the Arctic Council Secretariat for the Scandinavian countries on 13 September 2012. 178 Interview with the Ministry of the Environment and press release from the Ministry dated 24 May 2012. 179 Interview with the Norwegian Environment Agency on 13 June 2013. 180 Interview with the Ministry of the Environment on 7 May 2012 and interview with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 9 February 2012. 181 ACAP website.