Year 2000 was our first operational year as UNEP's key Polar center. This new task has proved us with improved scope for serving our Arctic mission. A visible result of this is a much higher interest from international media for information from GRID-Arendal on information related to the Polar environment.
GRID-Arendal focused its expertise in support of international environmental conventions. A CD-ROM/web site featuring the IPCC Special Reports on Climate Change, was produced and released at COP 6 of the UNFCCC in The Hague, in November.
A collection of 22 national state-of-biodiversity reports, Biodiversity in Central and Eastern Europe, was produced by GRID-Arendal in collaboration with its network of experts in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia for the Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
GRID-Arendal conducted training at the regional workshops on the implementation of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Ashgabad and Tbilisi.
A project on health and development of the indigenous peoples in the Arctic was developed by GRID-Arendal in co-operation with the World Health organization (WHO) to develop an overview of health and environment issues in the region. An assessment of national and sub-national health practices with special focus implications for indigenous peoples was carried out in Russia and Scandinavia.