Parties have been provided with relevant guidance and capacity building to support their implementation of the Convention. Regional and sub-regional centers for capacity building and the transfer of technology have been adopted to support the implementation of the Convention in the regions. Countries from all regions had to agree on the main objective of the Convention, as well as the set of measures for achieving it.
The adoption of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is one of the most important steps taken towards achieving the goal of environmentally sound handling of toxic chemicals. Each party to the Stockholm Convention must prepare a plan containing an initial assessment of the national situation with regard to persistent organic pollutants, as well as planned or undertaken activities to implement the Convention. Following the entry into force of 9 additional chemicals under the Convention in August 2010, the National Implementation Plans prepared to address the first 12 chemicals must be reviewed, updated and forwarded to the Conference of the Parties by August 26, 2012 .
Parties to the Convention are required by Article 15 to report every four years to the Conference of the Parties on their efforts in implementing the Convention, including the effectiveness of those efforts. In addition, at its second session, the Conference of the Parties invited Parties and non-Parties to designate Official Points of Contact (OCPs) for the performance of administrative functions and all formal communications under the Convention.
The Stockholm Convention requires the phase-out of the use of PCBs by 2025 and the environmentally sound management of PCB waste by 2028. To meet such requests, the Conference of the Parties, at its fourth meeting, approved the establishment of a cooperation framework called the "PCBs Elimination Network (PEN)". The PEN is an information exchange scheme on the cost-effective implementation of the environmentally sound management of PCBs.
500 stakeholders interested in sharing information on PCBs became PEN members by January 2011. PcB levels measured in breast milk as part of the UneP/Who breast milk survey2. 1 Laurent Granier 2010: Overview of the Global Environment Facility's PCB Program (Source: PEN Magazine, first issue, page 86).
The Conference of the Parties shall assess the continuing need for these acceptable purposes on the basis of available scientific, technical, environmental and economic information. DDt levels measured in breast milk as part of the UneP/Who breast milk survey3. It also called on the Secretariat to lead the implementation of the Global Alliance in collaboration with WHO.
Pursuant to Article 5 of the Convention, the following unintentionally produced POPs are listed in Annex C of the Convention: Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), Pentachlorobenzene (PeCB), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins (Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorines of CDDDDDDD) /PCDF). Thus, BAT/BEP can be implemented in the context of the Stockholm Convention with significant multi-pollutant reduction benefits and little or no penalty for GHG4 emissions. Development of the Toolkit began in 1999, with a first edition published in 2003 and a second edition in 2005.
Conference of the Parties Decision SC-2/5 initiated a process to review and further develop the Toolkit to provide up-to-date guidance to the Parties in establishing inventories of unintentionally produced POPs. Levels of PcDD/PcDF measured in human milk in the context of the UneP/Who human milk study6. One of the essential objectives of the Stockholm Convention is to dispose of old stocks and equipment containing POPs.
The committee also had an important advisory role regarding the technical and scientific aspects of the implementation of the convention. To support Parties in this task, the Committee has developed several guidance documents on alternatives to persistent organic pollutants and candidate chemicals. At the fourth session of the Conference of the Parties, a work program was therefore approved to assist the Parties in fulfilling their obligations under the Convention in relation to new persistent organic pollutants.
The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee has prepared a technical paper on the implications of recycling commercial pentabromodiphenyl ether and commercial octabromodiphenyl ether, as well as recommendations on the elimination of brominated diphenyl ethers from the waste stream and on risk reduction for PFOS.
GLoBaL MonitorinG PLan For eFFectiveness evaLUation
The first phase of the global monitoring plan was carried out in accordance with the implementation plan for GMP and for the first effectiveness evaluation as adopted by decision SC-3/19 of the Conference of the Parties. Guidance on the Global Monitoring Plan was also developed to address the plan's analytical and technical requirements as well as implementation details. Initiatives aimed at increasing regional monitoring capacity and analytical capabilities were successfully implemented in the first phase of the global monitoring plan, via the UNEP/WHO milk survey, partnerships with the Research Center for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Global Atmospheric Passive Sampling (GAPS) Network, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) and East Asia Air Monitoring Program to support regional air monitoring in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and East Asia respectively.
The first regional monitoring reports and the global monitoring report were published in 2009, and baseline levels for persistent organic pollutants in air and breast milk or blood were agreed by the Conference of the Parties. Furthermore, the implementation plan was updated to meet the requirements for subsequent effectiveness evaluations. The 2009 Global Monitoring Report showed that climate effects on the transport and partitioning of persistent organic pollutants had the potential to complicate the interpretation of measurements of these chemicals in environmental media in future assessments.
An in-depth global study on the topic of climate change effects on POPs was jointly implemented in 2010 by the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program with a comprehensive technical report published in 2011. 50 experts from developing and transition countries participated in the Summer Schools of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology organized by RECETOX between 2007-2010.
At its fourth meeting, the Conference of the Parties endorsed eight institutions to serve as regional and subregional centers for capacity building and technology transfer for a period of four years beginning in May 2009. The program aims to mobilize technical assistance and capacity building for the implementation of the Convention by the regional and sub-regional centers through the expertise available within the regions. The Small Grant program has been extended to also cover the implementation of the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions.
In response to this provision, the first session of the Conference of the Parties in decision SC-1/9 adopted guidelines for the financial mechanism and required that the entity or entities authorized to operate the financial mechanism of the Convention, including the global environment. in the further development of their operational programs to ensure compliance with the objectives of the Convention. Additional guidelines for the financial mechanism were adopted by the Conference of the Parties at subsequent meetings. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has been provisionally designated as the lead entity mandated to operate the Convention's financial mechanism.
In 2002, the GEF Assembly responded to this request by amending the instrument establishing the Restructured Global Environment Facility and establishing the POPs Focus Area with the aim of providing assistance to developing countries and countries with economies in transition to reduce and eliminate releases of POPs into the environment . In order to maintain a good working relationship, a memorandum of understanding was agreed between the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and the Council of the Global Environment Facility. Since the adoption of the Stockholm Convention in May 2001, the GEF has provided US$450 million for the implementation of more than 200 POP projects (as of June 2010).
This GEF POPs grant leveraged around US$650 million in co-financing to bring the total value of the GEF POPs projects to US$1,100 million7. As of September 2010, the GEF funded the preparation of the National Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention in 138 countries, providing a total grant funding of US$68 million to signatories of the Convention8. The fifth replenishment of the GEF (GEF-5) was concluded in 2010 with an overall donor support of US$4.3 billion, of which US$420 million was allocated for activities under the Chemical Strategy.
7 The GEF/POPs Overview and Outlook for GEF-5, National Workshop on Nine New POPs and Implementation of the Stockholm Convention in China, GEF, July 2010. The Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention provides a brokering service to further assist eligible parties help remedy financial shortcomings. The Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention is required by Article 9 of the Convention to act as an exchange mechanism for information on persistent organic pollutants, including information provided by Parties, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations.
Between January 2010 and February 2011, 22 outreach events were organized or co-organized by the Stockholm Convention in 13 different countries, with a total of 5,810 participants.
ProGress in the synerGies Process
The Synergy Process is a shining example of other parts of the global environmental agenda, showing that improved international environmental governance can take place within a cluster of related multilateral environmental agreements and with related work in intergovernmental organizations. In addition to cooperating with the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions, the Stockholm Convention is also closely linked to the activities of other international frameworks, such as the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and intergovernmental organizations such as UNEP, FAO, WHO, UNDP, UNIDO, the World Bank , GEF and UNITAR.
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