The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger

453 Pages·2015·3.92 MB·English

by  David P. Stone

THE CHANGING ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT
This accessible and engagingly written book describes how national and international
scientific monitoring programmes brought to light our present understanding of
Arctic environmental change and how these research results were successfully used
to achieve international legal actions to lessen some of the resulting environmental
impacts. David P. Stone was intimately involved in many of these scientific and
political activities. He tells a powerful story, using the metaphor of the “Arctic
Messenger” – an imaginary being warning us of the folly of ignoring Arctic
environmental change. This book will be of great interest to anyone concerned about
the Arctic’s fate, including lifelong learners interested in the Arctic and the natural
environment generally; students studying environmental science and policy;
researchers of circumpolar studies, indigenous peoples, national and international
environmental management and environmental law; and policy makers and industry
professionals looking to protect (or exploit) Arctic resources.
David P. Stone received a degree in zoology from the University of Aberdeen in 1973
and a PhD in oceanography from the University of British Columbia. From 1977 to
1980, David worked as an oceanographic scientist in the Canadian Arctic. From 1980
to 2004, he managed environmental research for the Northern Affairs Programme of
the Canadian government, becoming director of Northern Science and Contaminant
Research. In 1989, he became heavily involved in the development of circumpolar
cooperation under the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy that subsequently
became the Arctic Council. One of its key activities was the establishment in 1991 of
the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), where he served as
Canada’s delegate on the governing working group until 2004 and as its chair
between 1993 and 1997. During this time, AMAP set up a circumpolar monitoring
capacity and produced its first circumpolar assessment of the state of the Arctic
environment. From 1990 to 1994, David co-chaired the task force on persistent
organic pollutants (POPs) under the United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe’s (UNECE) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
(CLRTAP) and led the working group that prepared the negotiating text used by the
convention’s governing executive to negotiate a legally binding protocol under the
convention. He participated in the negotiation of the Stockholm Convention on POPs,
and after retirement, he was retained by the convention secretariat to assist in the
development of a process to measure through global monitoring whether
environmental levels of POPs are falling as a result of the new international controls.
In 1997, he was instrumental in developing a virtual University of the Arctic based
on existing circumpolar institutions. The Arctic Council formally announced the
creation of the university in September 1998. In 2001, David received an award from
Jean Chrétien, the then–prime minister of Canada, in recognition of his work on
developing and managing Arctic contaminants research and on using the results to
achieve negotiation of global agreements.
T H E C H A N G I N G A R C T I C
E N V I R O N M E N T
The Arctic Messenger
David P. Stone
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research
at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107094413
© David P. Stone 2015
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing
agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University
Press.
First published 2015
Printed in the United States of America
A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Stone, David P. (Oceanographic scientist)
The changing Arctic environment : the Arctic Messenger / David P. Stone (former chair of the Arctic Monitoring
and Assessment Programme (AMAP)).
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-107-09441-3 (Hardback)
1. Arctic regions–Environmental conditions. 2. Environmental monitoring–Arctic regions. 3. Climatic changes–
Arctic regions. 4. Pollution–Environmental aspects–Arctic regions. 5. Environmental impact analysis–Arctic
regions. I. Title.
GE160.A68S76 2015
363.700911′3–dc23 2014042076
ISBN 978-1-107-09441-3 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party
Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or
will remain, accurate or appropriate.
For Thérèse, who insisted that the Arctic tale be told, and for Dáithí and Scellig, who
continue to enlighten our lives
Contents
Acknowledgements
Acronyms
1Personal Beginnings
Part I:The Changing Arctic
2The Arctic Messenger
Part II:Working Together
3The Arctic Messenger Gains a Voice: The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment
Programme
Part III:What Is the Present State of Knowledge?
4Radioactivity
5Heroic Efforts
6Acidification and Arctic Haze
7Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
8Persistent Organic Pollutants and Heavy Metals (Including Mercury)
9Conducting Marine Science in the Arctic
10Climate Change in the Arctic
Part IV:What Does All This Mean?
11Thoughts on Education, the Training of Arctic Scientists, and Arctic Research
12The Long and the Short of It: Has the Arctic Messenger Been Noticed? What Can Be
Done?
13Epilogue: Keeping the Rovaniemi Flame Alive
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
Acknowledgements
It is a humbling experience to reflect on the multitude of people who developed and
assessed the knowledge on which the Arctic Messenger’s tale is based. Even if I could list
all the people, too many would still be unacknowledged.
I relied very heavily on my own memory and files for the historical and scientific
context of how our understanding of the Arctic environment has changed over the last
thirty years and of how governments have reacted to this knowledge. However, I often
needed help to check facts, find ways to fill in gaps or quite simply to kick my memory
into life. The kind cooperation of all the staff at the AMAP secretariat in Oslo proved
invaluable. I was given access to AMAP archives dating back to twenty-five years ago,
which not only revived my memories but also added fresh details from this period.
Margaret Davis spent hours anticipating my needs by retrieving and organising historical
files. Her help saved me many hours of time and likely of frustration. I also much
appreciated the help of Grethe Øksnes and Inger Utne, who effortlessly provided any
practical assistance I needed at the secretariat.
On the science side, the manuscript was much improved through technical reviews
provided by Robert Corell, Martin Forsius, Derek Muir, Lars-Otto Reiersen, Dáithí Stone,
Per Strand and Simon Wilson. All are experts in one or more of the main topics covered in
the book. I am much indebted to all these people for pointing out errors or suggesting
improvements and also for their support for the book being published.
An early draft of the manuscript contained three climate chapters that were reviewed
by Dáithí Stone. He promptly gave his father a much-needed lesson in humility by telling
him to throw the chapters away and to start again, which indeed I did! Thanks are also due
to AMAP for providing permission to adapt figures used in the book from AMAP sources
and for carrying out the work to modify existing AMAP graphics for their new life. I also
much appreciate being able to use two previously unpublished figures provided by Dáithí
Stone and one by Robert Corell.
I am deeply grateful to Caitríona Uí Ógáin and Sophia Kakkavas (Philomel
Productions) for graciously providing their permission to use three poetic fragments from
Footsteps From Another World by the late Dáithí Ó hÓgáin. Dáithí was a much-respected
folklorist, author and poet. Footsteps From Another World was his only collection of
poetry in English. It gives those of us who do not speak Irish Gaelic a tantalizing glimpse
of what we have missed. Anyone who is tempted to seek out this collection in English will
not be disappointed.
The last step in bringing a book to the public is of course publication and I am much
indebted to all of the staff at Cambridge University Press and their contractors who were
involved in this process. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the help of Matt Lloyd,
for his early encouragement and decision to promote publication by Cambridge; Holly
Turner, for never being impatient with a novice author; Rituleen Dhingra for valuable
advice; and Paul Smolenski, who managed the entire production process. I am also
grateful for the kind attention of Britto Fleming Joe and his colleagues at SPi Global.
I very much appreciated the help of Christopher Stolle for his efficient and sensitive
copyediting. He made this process an educational and enjoyable experience. I will never
again look at a text in quite the same way and will always be on the lookout for a
“dangling modifier”.
Finally, my overriding debt is to Thérèse, my wife of more than forty years. She
insisted that this book be written and never relaxed in her enthusiasm. On several
occasions, my confidence in the project came close to vaporizing. By one way or another,
Thérèse allowed me no escape. She also prepared the list of acronyms and, more
importantly, the index. When the book returned from copyediting and for final
examination of the proofs, Thérèse was seated at her desk, carefully scrutinizing every
word.