Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms
- 1 Personal Beginnings
- PART I THE CHANGING ARCTIC
- PART II WORKING TOGETHER
- PART III WHAT IS THE PRESENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE?
- PART IV WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
- Appendix I The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- Appendix II What Will Happen in the Future If We Do Nothing or If We Try Very Hard to Aggressively Reduce GHG Emissions: Projected Change Under Different Emission Scenarios
- Appendix III Some Geophysical Background Notes Related to Climate and Weather
- Appendix IV Orbital Forcing
- Appendix V The Concept of Commitment
- Bibliography
- Credits
- Index
PART II - WORKING TOGETHER
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms
- 1 Personal Beginnings
- PART I THE CHANGING ARCTIC
- PART II WORKING TOGETHER
- PART III WHAT IS THE PRESENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE?
- PART IV WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
- Appendix I The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- Appendix II What Will Happen in the Future If We Do Nothing or If We Try Very Hard to Aggressively Reduce GHG Emissions: Projected Change Under Different Emission Scenarios
- Appendix III Some Geophysical Background Notes Related to Climate and Weather
- Appendix IV Orbital Forcing
- Appendix V The Concept of Commitment
- Bibliography
- Credits
- Index
Summary
When the Cold War dominated world politics, the Arctic held the longest common boundary or front line between East and West. It was an area of great military significance and sensitivity. If there had ever been a major nuclear exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States, missiles and aircraft would have passed over the Arctic, which was therefore encircled by radar stations and other military installations. Cooperation to investigate the health of the Arctic environment was not high on the agenda of Arctic country governments.
In this section, we look at how quickly this hiatus changed after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, an event that at last provided real and meaningful opportunities for all the Arctic countries to work together. In particular, we will recognize the foresight of the Finnish (Rovaniemi) Initiative that began in 1989 and resulted in the Rovaniemi Declaration of 1991. The declaration and its accompanying Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) were adopted by all eight Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the United States). From the perspective of this story, the most important element of both documents was the creation of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). This new institution was charged with providing Arctic governments with comprehensive and reliable information on the state of and threats to the Arctic environment. In addition, AMAP was to provide advice on actions to help Arctic governments put in place appropriate preventative and remedial environmental actions. Today, AMAP remains a key element of the Arctic Council (which subsumed the AEPS in 1996).
AMAP is quite a remarkable organisation, deserving several pages to describe how it was built and how it operates. It has essentially no guaranteed operational budget to conduct monitoring. It functions primarily due to the skill of its secretariat supported by Norway and the dedication of hundreds of scientists and indigenous peoples who volunteer to prepare AMAP assessments. When you have reached the final page of this book, I think you will share my appraisal.
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- The Changing Arctic EnvironmentThe Arctic Messenger, pp. 21 - 22Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
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