Ten years of global monitoring under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Trends, sources and transport modelling
Abstract
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Stockholm Convention (SC) on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was adopted and opened for signature in May 2001 and entered into force on 17 May 2004, ninety days after submission of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession in respect of the Convention. Currently, there are 179 parties. Starting with the Dirty Dozen [consisting of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, chlordane, heptachlor] followed by additional chemicals included in the SC within the last decade, there are currently 26 chemicals listed under global control. Article 16 of the SC stipulates the Conference of the Parties to periodically evaluate if the Convention is effective in achieving the objective of protecting human health and the environment from POPs. The Global Monitoring Plan (GMP) was established as a major component of this effectiveness evaluation, to provide a harmonized framework for the collection of comparable monitoring data on the presence of POPs from all regions, in order to identify changes in POP concentrations over time, as well as on regional and global environmental transport. Two GMP reports summarizing information from the first (2000-2008; UNEP, 2009) and second (2009-2015; UNEP, 2015; UNEP, in press) phases of the GMP were compiled, forming the backbone of the upcoming effectiveness evaluation to be presented at the eighth Conference of the Parties in 2017. The GMP reports and related regional reports are available for download at this website: http://chm.pops.int/Implementation/GlobalMonitoringPlan/MonitoringReports/tabid/525/Default.aspx.
- Publication:
-
Environmental Pollution
- Pub Date:
- October 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.05.035
- Bibcode:
- 2016EPoll.217....1H