Contaminants in Polar Regions - Synthesis

Legacy and Emerging Contaminants in Polar Regions

Taking snow samles in the Arctic (Photo: Hereon/Zhiyong Xie)

This report is a synthesis of current knowledge, research needs as well as policy implications to tackle the issue of Legacy and Emerging Contaminants in Polar Regions.

Upon invitation by Hereon Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry and the German Environment Protection Agency it has been compiled based on contributions by representatives of the

• European Commission
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
• Arctic Council
• Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting
• Environmental Specimen Banks
• Data Centres
• Leading research institutions

Workshop Report

Front cover workshop report (Cover photo: Hereon/Zhiyong Xie)

The report provides recommendations for improving screening, monitoring, assessment, cooperation, and data sharing to provide environmental policy and chemicals management with effective and reliable pollution data to protect the polar environment and is available for download below. Workshop Report - Contaminants in Polar Regions Feb 2022 (2,4 MB)

A major outcome of the workshop are recommendations for strategic research approaches to resolve pressing questions and to suggest potential future measures to safeguard a good environmental status of the Arctic and the Antarctic. The latter is of specific interest as it will feed into the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting end of May 2022, hosted in Berlin, Germany.