From Arctic Science to Global Policy ? Addressing Multiple Stressors Under the Stockholm Convention

• Author: Eirik Hovland Steindal, Marianne Karlsson, Erlend A. T. Hermansen, Trude Borch, Froukje Maria Platjouw
• Position: None
• Pages: 80-107

Arctic Review on Law and Politics

Vol. 12, 2021, pp. 80–107

80

Peer-reviewed article

© 2021 Eirik Hovland Steindal, Marianne Karlsson, Erlend A. T. Hermansen, Trude Borch and Froukje Maria Platjouw.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0

International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), allowing third parties to share their work (copy,

distribute, transmit) and to adapt it, under the condition that the authors are given credit, that the work is not used for

commercial purposes, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.

Citation: Eirik Hovland Steindal, Marianne Karlsson, Erlend A. T. Hermansen, Trude Borch and Froukje Maria Platjouw. “From

Arctic Science to Global Policy – Addressing Multiple Stressors Under the Stockholm Convention” Arctic Review on Law and

Politics, Vol. 12, 2021, pp. 80–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v12.2681

*Correspondence to: Eirik Hovland Steindal, email: ehs@niva.no

From Arctic Science to Global Policy –

Addressing Multiple Stressors Under

the Stockholm Convention

Eirik Hovland Steindal

Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and Department of International

Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway

Marianne Karlsson

Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Norway

Erlend A. T. Hermansen

CICERO Center for International Climate Research, Norway

Trude Borch

Akvaplan-niva, Norway

Froukje Maria Platjouw

Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and Scandinavian Institute for Maritime

Law, University of Oslo, Norway

Abstract

Rapid climate change in the Arctic triggers the remobilization of chemical pollution, increasing

its exposure and potential impacts in the region. While scientic knowledge on multiple stress-

ors, including the interlinkages between climate change and hazardous chemicals, is increasing, it

has proven challenging to translate this knowledge into policy. This study analyzes the process of

translating Arctic scientic knowledge on multiple stressors into global policy by focusing on the

development of a guidance document under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pol-

lutants (POPs). Through document analysis and key informant interviews, we focus particularly

on the role of the Arctic Council working group AMAP in synthesizing, translating and commu-

nicating science on multiple stressors to policy makers. We draw on the theoretical framework of

formalization (how and by whom knowledge is summarized for policy) and separation (the relative

distance between science and policy) to analyze the science-to-policy interface. Our analysis of the

From Arctic Science to Global Policy

81

phases leading up to the guidance document show that AMAP has dynamically moved between

different degrees of separation and formalization. Orchestrating the interplay between scientists

and policy makers, the working group has put multiple stressors on the political agenda inter-

nationally. AMAP has thereby contributed to turn Arctic science into global policy through the

guidance document. We conclude by illustrating several constraints in terms of the implementation

of actual policy, which we argue is due to an increasing degree of formalization in the last phase

and a general unreadiness of contemporary governance systems to address multiple stressors.

Keywords: multiple stressors, climate change, Persistent Organic Pollutants, POPs,

Stockholm Convention, science policy, Arctic Council, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment

Programme (AMAP), international negotiations

Responsible Editor: Øyvind Ravna, Faculty of Law, UiT The Arctic University of

Norway

Received: October 2020; Accepted: January 2021; Published: March 2021

1 Introduction

The Arctic environment is experiencing rapid, complex and unprecedented environ-

mental change and stress.1 Anthropogenic environmental stressors are jeopardizing

the resilience of ecosystems in the region, individually and in complex interactions.2

The transboundary nature of stressors also challenges existing governance systems,

which are commonly sector-based and issue specic.3 These governance systems are

not rigged to address and alleviate interacting and systemic stressors. The complex-

ity of multiple environmental stressors and speed of change in the Arctic makes it

particularly challenging to communicate scientic ndings to policy makers and to

translate this science into policy.4 It is often difcult to identify causal relationships

in multiple stressor interactions and they involve a wide range of uncertainty, which

makes the topic important to study from a science-policy interface perspective.5

This paper analyzes a multi stressor science-policy process under the Stockholm

Convention (SC) on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). As one of the few actual

examples of a policy addressing the interaction of multiple stressors, we argue that

this case provides important lessons on how science on multiple stressors may be

translated into international policy.

POPs are a group of hazardous chemicals that are dened by their persistence

in the environment, their tendency to bioaccumulate in the food chain and their

toxicity to living organisms.6 In addition, these chemicals travel across borders by

air, water currents or biotic vectors. These traits make POPs a major concern for

both human health and ecosystems. Climate change effects may exacerbate the haz-

ard potential from POPs due to increasing temperatures, ice melting, permafrost

thawing, ocean acidication, increased precipitation, run-off and extreme weather

events.7 As an example, POPs stored in sediment, soil or ice may be released to the

environment, thereby increasing exposure to and potential uptake by organisms,

resulting in elevated toxic effects.8