CAGE-scientists Anna Silyakova and Giuliana Panieri have contributed to the latest AMAP assessment on methane as Arctic climate forcer. The assessment programme is developed by Arctic Council and is aimed specifically at policymakers.
Text: Maja Sojtaric
The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) is a group working under the Arctic Council, the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic states: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States.
AMAP is requested to produce integrated assessment reports in the status of Arctic ecosystems; identify possible causes for the changing conditions; detect emerging problems, their possible causes and risks to the Arctic nature and peoples; and to recommend actions required to reduce these risks.
“Access to reliable and up to date information is essential for the developing of science-based decision-making regarding ongoing changes in the Arctic and their global implication” report states.
The AMAP report for 2015 focuses on methane as an Arctic climate forcer, and CAGE-scientists Anna Silyakova and Giuliana Panieri contribute to its chapter on natural marine methane sources in the Arctic.
In the chapter they recommend among other things: continued monitoring of Arctic marine sources of methane due to the great uncertainties involved in gas hydrate quantities and vulnerability to ocean warming; a more thorough understanding of condition and amount of permafrost-associated gas hydrates; better understanding of the impact of sea-ice decline on the oceanic methane budget.
The AMAP report is freely available for educators, policy-makers, media and general public.
