Environmental Engineering Reference
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3.
Assess the effects of the discovered contaminant levels on the health of Arctic
ecosystems, including human health.
4.
Provide information on contaminants and nutrition to people who live in the
Arctic and eat traditional foods.
5.
Promote agreement and cooperation with other countries and the circumpolar
community to establish international controls of the contaminants of concern.
We needed clear and unambiguous answers to the first three objectives in order to under-
stand and inform Northerners about the hazards and risks they faced (fourth objective) and
to take action to halt the entry of the offending substances into the environment (fifth ob-
jective). We then invited scientists and indigenous peoples' organisations to send in pro-
posals that would fit under one or more of the strategic objectives. A committee of science
managers and representatives of Canadian indigenous peoples' organisations then collect-
ively made funding decisions based on the prospects of a proposal to address one or more
of the strategic objectives. The indigenous organisations undertook activities related to the
last three of the objectives.
About nine months later, the researchers were required to report on progress and to
attend an interdisciplinary workshop in which the significance of results was discussed. We
then sent out a new request for proposals - the wording of which reflected the workshop
discussion in the context of the strategic objectives. The process was reiterated on an annu-
al cycle. As time went on, we prepared “blueprints” that gave greater guidance to scientists
on exactly what sort of information we were looking for and these were periodically modi-
fied, as some issues would be resolved and other needs identified. At intervals of about six
years, major assessment reports were published, but in the meantime, information from the
research and monitoring was flowing outwards to Arctic peoples, to regulatory agencies
concerned with wildlife and human health, to AMAP and to activities working to control
the contaminants that worried us. Over the years, this initial framework has evolved con-
siderably, but the core intent remains the same. It was a simple structure, but it is remark-
able how few monitoring and research efforts do not set out such a framework. As with the
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