| Summary: | An external panel was convened to conduct a review of the work and products of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). Our review focused on the outputs of AMAP in the context of peoples, institutions, organizations, and industries that have a need for Arctic environmental and health monitoring information (stakeholders). The panel targeted three issues: the past and current utility of AMAP products, possible gaps in stakeholder awareness of AMAP, and how AMAP should address challenges in the coming decade. We found that AMAP products were widely known and respected in Arctic governments, in intergovernmental, scientific and education organizations, and by indigenous people’s organizations; for a wide variety of stakeholders, AMAP has concentrated on the important and relevant environmental issues for the Arctic region. We identified the following areas as the most common and persuasive suggestions for improvement: attention to data access and data sharing issues; increasing the timeliness, impact and perhaps regularity of the AMAP assessments; better integration of AMAP activities in the context of climate and with, for example, related ecosystem or biodiversity assessments; and a general increase in AMAP’s profile through more effective outreach.
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