The Northern Contaminants Program: Opportunities for

Collaboration with ArcticNet

Russel ShearerChair of NCP and Director of Northern Science and

Contaminants Research, INAC

2nd ArcticNet Annual Science MeetingBanff, December 13-16, 2005

Outline of Presentation

• NCP Overview• Environmental Trends • Human Health• Education/Communications • International Initiatives - Science to

Policy• Opportunities for Collaboration with

ArcticNet

NCP Policy Objectives 2005/06 and Beyond

• To reduce and, wherever possible, eliminate contaminants from long-range transport sources in traditional / country foods, while providing information that assists individuals and communities in making informed decisions about their food use by:

Northern Contaminants Program Northern Contaminants Program

Sources, Pathways Sources, Pathways and fate of and fate of contaminants contaminants Levels and trends in Levels and trends in the air and biotathe air and biotaLevels, trends and Levels, trends and effects in peopleeffects in peopleCommunication and Communication and education education International ActionInternational Action

The Contaminants:

Heavy Metalsmercury, lead, cadmium…

• Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS)PCBs, DDTs, toxaphene, chlordanes, HCHs…

• New Chemicalse.g. brominated flame retardants,fluorinated organic compounds…including current use pesticides

Northern Contaminants Program

Managed by INAC in partnership withManaged by INAC in partnership withHealthHealth CanadaCanadaEnvironmentEnvironment CanadaCanadaFisheries and OceansFisheries and OceansThreeThree territorial governmentterritorial governmentssAboriginal organizationsAboriginal organizationsProvinces Provinces –– Quebec and LabradorQuebec and LabradorUniversities and research institutesUniversities and research institutes

NCP Future Funding Envelopes (2005/06 -)

• Human Health $1.8 M• Education / Commun. $0.9 M• Environmental Trends $0.8 M• National/Regional/

Aboriginal Partnerships $0.9M Total $4.4 M

Environmental Trends of POPs and Metals in Arctic Air and Biota

Air monitoring at AlertContinuous measurement of POPs and mercuryProject leads: Hayley Hung, Alexandra Steffen,

Meteorological Service of Canada

TAGISHC.DORSET

ALERT

DUNAI

AMDERMA

NY ALESUND

Barrow

Wildlife monitoring• Ringed Seal• Beluga• Narwhal• Walrus• Polar Bear• Caribou• Seabirds• Arctic Char• Lake trout• Burbot

Environmental Trends in BiotaEnvironmental Trends in BiotaTemporal Trends Temporal Trends –– annual sampling of annual sampling of key species at select locationskey species at select locationsSpatial Trends Spatial Trends –– range of species range of species monitored over a broad geographic area monitored over a broad geographic area over a 5over a 5--yr. sampling cycleyr. sampling cycle

Mittimatalik

Ikpiarjuk

Arviat

QausuittuqIkaahuk

Ringed Seal

Ausuittuq

Uluhaktuk

Uqsuqtuuq

Qikiqtarjuaq

Pangnirtung

Inukjuaq

Kangiqsualujjuaq

Nunainguk

annual

annualannual

2008/9

2009/10

2009/10

2006/7

2008/9

2005/6

2006/7

2007/8

2005/6

2008/9

Annual sampling

Sampling every 5 years

Fish

Arviat

QausuittuqIkaahuk

Arctic CharPan-Arctic Survey (2004-2006)

Ausuittuq

Uluhaktuk

UqsuqtuuqIkaluktutiak

Mittimatalik

Qikiqtarjuaq

Pangnirtung

Sanikiluaq

IqauitKinngait

Paulatuk

Annual sampling

Sampling every 5 years

Contaminants and Arctic Aboriginal Contaminants and Arctic Aboriginal PeoplesPeoples

People: top of the food chain

Of paramount concernOf paramount concernHigh levels of PCBs and other High levels of PCBs and other POPsPOPs and mercury measured in and mercury measured in blood and breast milk of Inuitblood and breast milk of Inuit

Exposures are highest among Inuit• What have we learned from the NCP?

Cold, oligotrophicsubarctic lakes

ChlordaneToxapheneMercury

00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9

PTDIInuitN=1875

00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9

PTDIDeneN=1012

00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9

PTDIYukonN=802

Mean contaminant intakes (ug/kg/day) of northern Aboriginal peoples (left) compared to provisional tolerable daily intakes (PTDI) from Health Canada (right).

Yukon First Nations

PTDI

Dene Nation, NWT

PTDIInuit,Nunavut and NWT

PTDI

* Recommended mercury TDI for children and women of child-bearing age.

00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9

PTDIInuitN=1875

Inuit,Nunavut and NWT

PTDI

PCBs in maternal blood with results from the AMAP PCBs in maternal blood with results from the AMAP

circumpolar blood surveycircumpolar blood survey

Communicating About Contaminants withAboriginal Communities:

Methods, Materials and Processes

Resources

Are they safe?

Yukon has an abundance ofwild foods that can be harvested

as part of a healthy Northernlifestyle. Eating our wildtraditional foods is a wise

and safe decision.

What is CACAR 2• Provides a summary of

all the NCP Research in the Canadian Arctic for the last five years

• The five reports deal specifically with– Where contaminants

come from– Contaminants in fish

and wildlife– Human exposure– Contaminants

education

• Physical Environment• Biological Environment• Human Health• Knowledge in Action• Highlights Report

Canadian Arctic Contaminant Assessment ReportCanadian Arctic Contaminant Assessment Report(CACAR II)(CACAR II)

Aboriginal Partners:Aboriginal Partners:Brought forth community voiceBrought forth community voiceProvided advice and represented northern Aboriginal Provided advice and represented northern Aboriginal interests to INAC and other NCP government partnersinterests to INAC and other NCP government partnersInput and direction on research priorities and Input and direction on research priorities and Directing communication initiativesDirecting communication initiatives

The NCP and International Policy Initiatives• Arctic Council / AMAP

• UN-ECEConvention LRTAP

•UNEP Stockholm Convention

•UNEP Global Mercury

• N. American CEC / SMOC

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)

• Established in 1991– to monitor the levels of, and assess the

effects of anthropogenic pollutants in all relevant components of the Arctic environment

– involves 8 Arctic nations (Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, United States) + a few non-Arctic nations (The Netherlands, Germany & the United Kingdom)and Permanent Participants

NCP Collaboration with ArcticNet

• Northern Partnerships – Communications and Capacity-Building – Inuit Research Advisors (IRAs) and Aboriginal Partners

• Use of protocols and guidelines developed for: QA/QC, archived samples, Guidelines for Responsible Research, Social/Cultural Criteria and Review and Data Management and Sample Agreement

90% 50%

ALBEDO EFFECT

ACCELERATION OF CLIMATE WARMING IN THE ARCTIC

Process Studies: Climate Change Influences on Contaminant Trends

Hg Depletion Events at Canadian Air Monitoring

Stations

Steffen et al., 2005

Note:

•Events of rapid Hg loss at the onset of polar sunrise

•Evidence of return of Hg to the atmosphere in summer (JJA)

•Atmospheric residence time of Hg is ~1-2 years

Hg in Beluga Liver

Stern et al., 2005

The Problem with Hg Time SeriesThe Problem with Hg Time Series

Atmospheric data are great (but don’t Atmospheric data are great (but don’t show a trend)show a trend)Emission data suggest Hg declinesEmission data suggest Hg declinesMarine mammal data are sporadic but Marine mammal data are sporadic but suggest huge increases for some locationssuggest huge increases for some locationsOcean data don’t existOcean data don’t existRiver data don’t existRiver data don’t exist

NCEs/ArcticNet – 50% Co-funding

Inuit Health Study: Contaminants in theNunavik Region

CCGS AmundsenCore infrastructure: CCGS AmundsenCost Sharing and Co-Funding

Next Stepsν Cooperation with Northern Regions and Inuit

Partners e.g., Inuit Research Assistants (IRAs)ν Coordination of ArcticNet and NCP results

workshops in 2006 on a trial basisν Share Results of Proposal Review Processes to

ensure coordination, cost-sharing and co-fundingν Follow-up to ACIA Report – Declaration by AC at

the UN Montreal Meeting

AMAP Assessment Reports

• Scientific Reportsscientific backgroundACIA Report

• Popular Science Reportsgeneral public and decision-makers (with recommendations for actions)

For more information: NCP Call for Proposals

Deadline: Jan. 9, 2006Visit the NCP website at:

www.inac.gc.ca/ncp

Thank You

Questions and Discussion

Scholarships for Inuit environmental healthMSc/MA, PhD, Post-doc

www.nasivvik.ulaval.ca

Approach to Research:Conducting research in the North presents its own

unique and unfamiliar challenges to scientists trained in the South.

• Financial demands• Logistical difficulties• Cultural considerations• Tough traveling and working conditions• Communication obstacles

Geographical and Temporal Trends of Perfluorinated Organics in Polar Bears

liver and plasma from the North American and European Arctic

NIVERSITYU GUELPHof

Marla Smithwick, J.W. Martin, C. Sonne, R. Dietz, T. Evans, K. Solomon, S. Mabury, R. Norstrom, G. Gabrielsen, A. Derocher, M. Tayloer, J. Nagy, I. Stirling, D. Muir

Northern Contaminants Program (NCP)

Dunai Amderma

Alert

KinngaitTagishLittle Fox Lake

• OCs, PCBs, PAHs♦ gas & particles♦ most sites

• Weekly samples♦ Little Fox Lake

• Bi-weekly composites♦ Kinngait

• I: weekly or 4-week composites• II: mostly combined gas & particle

19921992 19931993 19941994 19951995 19961996 19971997 19981998 19991999 20002000 20012001 20022002Alert

Kinngait IMAR, ‘94MAR, ‘94 FEB, ‘96FEB, ‘96 Kinngait IIOCT, ‘00OCT, ‘00 SEP, ‘02SEP, ‘02

TagishDEC, ‘92DEC, ‘92 MAR, ‘95MAR, ‘95 Little Fox LakeJul, ‘02Jul, ‘02

20032003

DunaiAPR, ‘93APR, ‘93 MAY, ‘95MAY, ‘95 AmdermaMAR, ‘99MAR, ‘99 SEP, ‘01SEP, ‘01

Jul, ‘03Jul, ‘03

BiomagnificationBiomagnificationBiomagnificationBiomagnification

BiomagnificationBiomagnificationBiomagnificationBiomagnification

BiomagnificationBiomagnificationBiomagnificationBiomagnification