The Arctic Messenger Gains a Voice - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 33

If all these elements function as intended, this design enables the Arctic Messenger
to inform Arctic Council governments and the general public on its state of well-being. If
the news is not good, the governments are expected to act individually using their domestic
environmental legislation and, if necessary, to work together internationally when regional
or global action is needed. How well this scheme has succeeded in directly linking science
to policy and action is a question that will gradually unfold as we move to the end of this
story. In some cases, it has managed quite well, but in others, it has been less successful.
What can be said without reservation is that Arctic governments have regularly received
unequivocal scientific assessments.
AMAPisnotaloneinhavingresponsibilities relating toArcticenvironmental science.
Otherorganisations includetheIASC,theArcticOceanScience Boardand,withintheArc-
tic Council, the work undertaken by CAFF. However, I know of no other programme that
combines such a wide environmental science and protection mandate with a process that
includes political assimilation, domestic action and real leverage to promote international
remedial action. AMAP's monitoring is by definition reiterative, thus enabling the detec-
tion of environmental trends over time and the setting up and adjustment of remedial ac-
tions.
My close involvement with AMAP began when Heikki Sisula from Finland and I
were elected as the first chair and vice chair, respectively, at the inaugural meeting of the
AMAP working group in 1991. In 1993, Heikki stepped down and I became the chair, with
Lars-Erik Liljelund from Sweden as the vice chair. In 1998, Lars-Erik became chair. Lars-
Erik had already held senior management positions in Sweden dealing with acid rain and
he later became director general of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. While
we worked together on AMAP, he was director of the Swedish government's Environment-
al Advisory Council. His office was adjacent to that of his minister, Anna Lindh. As I had
come from the stuffy confines of government in Ottawa, it was a revelation to meet such a
vibrant minister who arrived at work on her bicycle, would join us for a coffee break and
was sometimes accompanied by her preschool child. Her premature death at the hands of
an assassin was a tragedy not just for Sweden but also for Europe. Lars-Otto Reiersen was