The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme is one of five Working Groups of the Arctic Council.

The primary function of AMAP is to advise the governments of the eight Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) on matters relating to threats to the Arctic region from pollution, and associated issues.

AMAP was originally established in 1991 to implement parts of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). It was requested by Ministers of the eight Arctic countries to:

"provide reliable and sufficient information on the status of, and threats to, the Arctic environment, and to provide scientific advice on actions to be taken in order to support Arctic governments in their efforts to take remedial and preventive actions relating to contaminants."

AMAP is responsible for:

"measuring the levels, and assessing the effects of anthropogenic pollutants in all compartments of the Arctic environment, including humans; documenting trends of pollution; documenting sources and pathways of pollutants; examining the impact of pollution on Arctic flora and fauna, especially those used by indigenous people; reporting on the state of the Arctic environment; and giving advice to Ministers on priority actions needed to improve the Arctic condition."

AMAP has produced a series of high quality scientifically-based assessments of the pollution status of the Arctic. The AMAP assessment reports (both the popular readable versions and detailed scientific background documents) are available as electronic documents elsewhere on this website. The AMAP assessments are the result of cooperative efforts involving a large number of scientists, indigenous peoples’ representatives, and representatives of the Arctic countries and AMAP observing countries and organizations. These assessments have provided a basis for development of the Arctic Council Action Plan (ACAP).