In a newly released report from AMAP "Update on Selected Climate Issues of Concern - Observations, Short-lived Climate Forcers, Arctic Carbon Cycle and Predictive Capability" (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme). (A copy of the report is available on AMAPs homepage.) Recent results from Arctic carbon cycle research is presented and it is stated that improved understanding of the carbon dynamics is needed to modeling Arctic carbon cycle impact on global climate change. Climate change may alter the natural cycling of carbon (C) in ecosystems in the Arctic. The Arctic carbon cycle is an important factor in the global climate system. Significant amount of carbon has been accumulated over thousands of years and stored in permafrost soils because of the process of cryoturbation, which moves organic matter into the deeper soil layers. Other processes, such as decomposition, wildfires, and logging, cause release of carbon into the atmosphere and, thus, act as carbon sources. At present the Arctic is a sink for carbon however climate warming - and thawing of the permafrost and accelerating decomposition processes - could disrupt the balance between accumulation of carbon in Arctic soils and emission of CO2 back into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the report highlights another issue relevant for the understanding of the carbon cycle in the Arctic: "In addition to the usual sources of carbon, primarily from plant matter, the Arctic appears to have huge quantities of methane hydrates. Methane is stable in cold conditions and under high pressure, and thus found in permafrost on land and continental shelves and also beneath the sediments of the Arctic Basin. As hydrates warm or as pressure is reduced, the methane is released. The amount of methane hydrates is not well known, but some global estimates suggest it may rival the amounts of all known sources of gas and oil." The rate of carbon release from permafrost soils is highly uncertain, but it is crucial for predicting the strength and timing of this carbon-cycle feedback effect, and thus how important permafrost thaw will be for climate change this century. Permafrost's role in isolating carbon from participating in the carbon cycle could be challenged by global warming and an accelerating permafrost thawing - and transform the Arctic into of carbon source where no known mitigation measures exist.

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The past and existing community and industrial development of the Arctic have resulted in increased accumulation of waste. Research confirms that contamination of the environment of the Arctic caused by local sources represents a growing threat to the environment and to human safety and health in the Arctic. Under the Arctic Council, ACAP was established in 2006 for assessment, treatment and disposal of waste causing pollution. Public waste management and treatment are not well developed in remote Arctic communities, and local knowledge of hazardous waste and its treatment and contamination risks are low. Due to traditional living conditions the indigenous peoples of the Arctic are the ones most exposed to higher levels of environmental contaminants. The work for developing this initiative continues. The implementation of the initiative is expected to start during 2010 and it will have character of being a pilot project.

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by Clive Tesar The Arctic Council has released a version of its Arctic Oil and Gas Assessment, prompting new discussion about the effects of oil and gas development in the Arctic. Patricia Cochran, Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, spoke at an event held when the Assessment was released. She recalled the words of another Inuit Leader, Eben Hopson, founder of the ICC, who more than thirty years ago told a major pipeline inquiry

“The politics of the Arctic are no longer the politics of the people, but they are the politics of oil.”

Cochran also pointed to a conclusion reached by Michael Baffrey, one the authors of the Assessment, that

“When local organizations and institutions lack power, local interests are likely to be neglected, so that costs are borne disproportionately by local residents while benefits accrue primarily at the regional and national levels.”

The costs of development pointed out by Cochran include a recent study that found that bowhead whales are avoiding areas oil and gas development offshore of Alaska, forcing Inuit hunters further out in dangerous seas. She also spoke of the intense fear of Inuit in Alaska that a spill like the Exxon Valdez will contaminate their coastline. “If the coastal resources on which we rely are polluted,” she said, “then the bottom drops out of our culture.” She cautioned that,

“As new parts of the Arctic are opened up to oil and gas development, the politics of the Arctic must be of the people of the Arctic, and not the politics of oil.”

The Arctic Council is still considering its response to its “Arctic Oil and Gas Assessment”. A full version of the Assessment is to be released later, along with some policy recommendations. The shorter version that has been released can be found here: http://www.amap.no/oga/. While the Arctic Council considers its response to the Assessment, oil and gas companies have snapped up drilling rights to parts of the Chukchi Sea, northwest of Alaska. The US Government has allowed the companies to bid on more than 117 thousand square kilometers of sea bed, from about 40 to 320 kilometers offshore. The lease sale went ahead over the protests of Indigenous people from Point Hope, who worry about the effects of further drilling on their whale hunt, and the possibility of spills.