The Arctic Messenger Gains a Voice - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 31

tributions that could be made by the permanent participants if a more stable funding ar-
rangement could be found.
ThetimingoftheRovaniemi andOttawadeclarations wasserendipitous. Theyslipped
into that short period of global optimism when East and West politics were emerging from
theirmutualisolationandwhentheworkoftheBrundtlandCommissionandthe1992Con-
ferenceonEnvironmentandDevelopmentSummitappearedpoisedtomovetheworldeco-
nomies towards a more sustainable future. If you may be tempted to learn more about the
aspirations, disappointments, triumphs and national rivalries of those who strove to create
the AEPS and the Arctic Council, I recommend the highly readable Ice and Water by John
English. It provides a clear historical overview, particularly from the viewpoint of the Ca-
nadian protagonists.
The architecture of the AEPS and the subsequent actions embedded in work plans of
what is now the Arctic Council provided the Arctic Messenger with not just a voice but po-
tentially a very powerful one. This is how the responsibilities of AMAP and the ministerial
levels of the AEPS and the Arctic Council have been described (quotation marks indicate
direct extracts from the Rovaniemi Declaration and the AEPS):
1. AMAP is established to set up arrangements “to monitor the levels of, and as-
sess the effects of, anthropogenic pollutants in all components of the Arctic
environment and since 1991” and, more recently, “to include effects of in-
creased UV-B radiation due to stratospheric ozone depletion, and climate
change on Arctic ecosystems” with “special attention on human health im-
pacts and the effects of multiple stressors”.
2. AMAP is implemented by a task force (soon renamed as a working group) and
is supported by a secretariat provided by Norway.
3. The AEPS/Arctic Council ministers receive regular State of the Arctic Environ-
ment Reports summarizing the results from AMAP. The assessments report
on status and trends in conditions of Arctic ecosystems; identify possible
causes for changing conditions; detect emerging conditions, their possible