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TOXIC SUBSTANSES IN THE ARCTIC – EFFECTS ON ECOSYSTEMS AND HUMANS
Lars-Otto Reiersen,
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, (AMAP), Gaustadall’een 21, Oslo, Norway.
[email protected]
Abstract
AMAP was established 20 years ago to monitor and assess levels, trends and affects due to pollution
and climate change on Arctic ecosystems and humans. In addition, the Ministers from the eight Arctic
countries asked AMAP to prepare list of actions that they may take on jointly or individually to protect
the Arctic environment. The presentation will give an overview of the results documenting the situation
regarding pollution and climate change and especially the global influence on the Arctic and actions
that has been initiated to protect the Arctic both at international and local level.
Introduction
AMAP was initiated in 1991 by Ministers from the eight Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and USA) that today is the Arctic Council. The Arctic indigenous
peoples have a special seat in the Arctic Council as Permanent Participants. AMAP was tasked to
monitor and assess the pollution of the Arctic, including effects on ecosystems and humans. In 1993,
AMAP was asked to include assessments of climate change - including UV/ozone and its effects on
Arctic ecosystems and humans.
Since 1993 AMAP has delivered more than 30 scientific and technical assessments. During the first
ten years the main focus was on contaminants like persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals
(especially mercury, lead and cadmium), radionuclides (mainly due to military activities and
reprocessing plants), acidification (especially forest death around smelters) and petroleum
hydrocarbons (AMAP, 1998, 2003a, 2004a, b, c, 2005, 2006, 2009a, b, c, 2011a). During the following
ten years the climate change got increasing priority (ACIA 2005, AMAP 2011b), and today it is the
combined effects of climate, pollutants and other stressors that has the main focus (AMAP 2011c & d,
UNEP/AMAP 2011). Over all the years, the effects due to pollution and climate change on humans,
especially the indigenous peoples has been a priority area in relation to their food security and life
style and to provide advice to health workers.
Materials and methods
AMAP has developed strict Guidelines for the work to be done, both for the monitoring part, the
assessment and data handling. AMAP recommend methodologies accepted by international scientific
communities and other international organization to achieve comparable data. There are special
requirements for QA/QC programmes and reporting to Thematic Data Centers. The Guidelines are
updated when new components are added or new methods accepted. All of these Guidelines are
available from AMAP web site www.amap.no .
Results
The assessments have documented that a range of contaminants: POPs, heavy metals like mercury
and lead, radionuclides and acidifying components have been and still are transported into the Arctic
area and deposited in the environment. Some of these contaminants accumulate in food chains, and
some also bio-magnify in species that feed high in the food chain, including humans. POPs
accumulate mainly in the marine food web and are bound to lipids (fat), with potential to affect high
trophic level predators such as polar bears and killer whales, but also indigenous human populations
that consume marine mammals as part of their traditional diet. The same goes for mercury which also
accumulates in fish and marine mammals, whereas for radionuclides, the terrestrial food chain is most
affected and indigenous people living on reindeer meat are the most exposed groups.
Effects due to the exposure to POPs and methyl mercury have been documented in Arctic animals
(e.g. polar bear and glaoucous gulls) and humans. This paradoxical situation –- where Arctic people
that hardly used and had little benefit from products containing these harmful contaminants, are
among the most highly exposed groups to these contaminants anywhere on the planet - has resulted
in the so-called “the Arctic dilemma”. The marine food chain is rich in fat, which provides energy as
well as essential vitamins for humans. POPs accumulate in the blubber and mercury in the meat of
Arctic marine organisms - two main components of a diet that can be a key to survival under the harsh
conditions that exist in the Arctic.
Some local industrial activities have had a significant effect on local forest and freshwater systems,
especially around the large Russian smelter complex at Norilsk on the Taimyr and Nickel on the Kola
Peninsula. In addition to long range transport of contaminants, a local use of pesticides has also been
documented in some areas of the Arctic, partly due to military activities and partly in households and
in animal herding. Thus exposure to contaminants from local sources comes on top of the long range
transported contaminants and has been shown to affect specific groups of people.
The last six years have been the warmest years ever recorded in the Arctic since 1880. The melting of
the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic mountain glaciers and ice caps have increased over the last
decades, the permafrost is thawing and the sea ice has been thinner and the extent of the summer
sea ice reduced since satellite observations started in the 70-ties. Combined effects with Short Lived
Climate Forces (black carbon, ozone, etc.) and feedback mechanisms (reduced albedo and increased
heat adsorption) have been documented in the latest reports (AMAP 2011b & c?). Climate models
predict temperature increases that may have a dramatic effect on the ice and snow conditions in large
parts of the Arctic on time scales as short as a few decades. The melting of multiyear land ice and
thawing of permafrost is remobilizing contaminants that has been deposited. AMAP has also reported
an interesting link between climate change and the transport of contaminant and precipitation over the
Arctic – combined effects.
The climate change is affecting the Northern areas and it is creating challenges and opportunities.
Challenges for the local people to continue the traditional life style, e.g. when sea ice is no longer
close to the coast bring seals to the hunters, and then change in snow and permafrost are affecting
terrestrial ecosystems and thereby herding, hunting and food storage. Opportunities are for increased
sea transport, mining and oil and gas exploration and exploitation, tourism, etc.
Discussion
The results from AMAP have played a significant role in the establishment of international protocols
and conventions to handle pollution, e.g. the Århus protocol and the Stockholm convention (Reiersen
et.al; 2003). AMAP has established a close cooperation with UNEP Chemicals with the work to
achieve a better control for global emission of mercury and we have produced a technical assessment
together (AMAP/UNEP 2008,) and an updated is under preparation. The hot spot identifications that
AMAP made in Russia (AMAP 1995, 2000, 2003b, 2008) has played a significant role in the clean up
programmes initiated in Russia, both in vicinity of villages, industry- and military sites, e.g. PCB and
obsolete pesticides, the decommissioning of nuclear submarines e.g. there is today only one nuclear
submarine in North West Russia that has not been decommissioned, and the clean-up of the high
Arctic military base at Frantz Josef Land of barrels with fuels and lubricants has started.
Regarding climate, the Polar chapter of the IPCC report in 2007 built a lot on the ACIA 2005, the next
IPCC report has received all the latest reports from AMAP (AMAP 2011, a & b) – “The Snow Water Ice
and Permafrost Report (SWIPA)” and the report on “Impact of Black Carbon Arctic Climate”.
AMAP is at present implementing a scientific project assessing the combined effects of climate
change and contaminants on human health – the ArcRisk project to be presented in 2014. In addition,
we are assessing the status and effects due to increased acidification of Arctic oceans, the Arctic
Ocean Acidification Assessment (AOA) to be delivered in 2013. AMAP together with international
organizations has put priority on analysing the combined effects of several stressors or drivers on
Arctic ecosystems, the human health and the societies. We intend to perform a significant work on the
effects and adaptation to the Arctic Change issue the next five years.
All AMAP assessment reports are available from the AMAP web site www.amap.no . The official
reports are in English, and produced in both the Scientific and Layman style (summary) reports. Some
of the summary reports have been translated to other languages including Russian, Norwegian,
Danish, Saami, etc.
The presentation will provide some more details related to the text presented in the abstract.
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