Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
where the assessments would be presented to circumpolar governments and internation-
al organisations responsible for environmental protection. The result was an organisation
with an amazing record of achievements. These include providing the lion's share of in-
formation that led to the negotiation of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air
Pollution (CLRTAP) persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and heavy metal protocols and
to the global Stockholm and Minamata conventions. AMAP also played a significant role
in supporting the international cooperative actions set up to deal with radioactive legacies
of the Cold War in the Arctic region and to convince Arctic governments to examine the
benefits of taking quick action on short-lived climate forcers.
Norwayrealized thatthekeytomaintaining long-termvitality inAMAPliesintheex-
istenceofasecureandadequatelyfundedcoordinationmechanism(theAMAPsecretariat).
Norway houses the secretariat and provides its operational budget through an independent
foundation that Norway established specifically for this purpose. This stability enabled the
secretariat to recruit an outstandingly gifted and dedicated team led by Lars-Otto Reiersen
andSimon Wilson. Lars-Otto's vision andtenacity andSimon's skills at organising scientif-
ic assessments have been the key to every AMAP accomplishment.
It is the Norwegian government, Lars-Otto Reiersen, Simon Wilson and hundreds of
Arctic scientists we must thank for providing us with a reliable, long-lasting tool to detect,
assess and understand Arctic environmental change.
In the early 1990s, environmentalists and economists came to view our future in terms
of “sustainable economic development”, a paradigm developed by the World Commission
on Economic Development (WCED), chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland. It subsequently
formed the foundation for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Develop-
ment (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The WCED defined the concept as follows:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without com-
promisingtheabilityoffuturegenerationstomeettheirownneeds.Itcontainswithinittwo
key concepts: the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to
which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state
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