ABSTRACT
Iceland noted that the ability completely to understand pollution issues in the Arctic was restricted by the lack of a comprehensive scientific data base and coordinated monitoring program on the state of Arctic ecosystems. The states decided to establish a separate program. The idea of monitoring and the assessment of inputs, outputs and their effects in a 'comprehensive and coordinated manner' was proposed during the preparatory process. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) report stresses the global threats to the Arctic environment and the interdependent relations between the Arctic and rest of the world. With regard to the 'global' threats of climate change and ozone depletion, the report emphasizes climate change as being of 'immediate interest to the Arctic'. The relationships between science, knowledge and indigenous peoples in the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) were, from the indigenous peoples' point of view, one of the main concerns.
