| Abstract Title: | Looking Forward: Policy-Relevant Findings and Recommendations of the 2021 AMAP Mercury Assessment |
| Presenter Name: | John Chetelat |
| Company/Institution: | Environment and Climate Change Canada |
| Session: | Special Session - Climate-Driven Perturbations of Arctic Mercury Cycling |
| Day and Session: | Friday 29th July - Session Three |
| Start Time: | 13:00 UTC |
| Co-Authors: | John Chetelat,Rune Dietz,Simon Wilson |
Abstract Information :
An assessment was conducted under the auspices of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) on the status of mercury (Hg) contamination in the Arctic. The resulting report, AMAP Assessment 2021: Mercury in the Arctic, summarizes recent advances in Arctic Hg science to address three overarching policy-relevant questions: (1) What are the human and environmental drivers of Hg levels in the Arctic?, (2) What are the effects of Hg on Arctic biota?, and (3) What are the impacts on human health from Hg exposure in the Arctic? Over the last decade, progress has been achieved in addressing policy-relevant uncertainties in environmental Hg contamination, including temporal trends of Hg, its transport to and within the Arctic, methylmercury cycling, climate change influences, biological effects of Hg on fish and wildlife, human exposure to Hg, and forecasting of Arctic responses to different future scenarios of anthropogenic Hg emissions. This talk will link key findings of the AMAP assessment report (also presented in detail in the ICMGP special session) with recommendations for future research and monitoring of Hg in the Arctic. In addition, the importance of contributions of Indigenous Peoples to Arctic research and monitoring of Hg will be discussed. Relevance of the assessment findings to inform decision-making and support effectiveness evaluation of the United Nations Minamata Convention on Mercury will be highlighted.
