On 21-23 May 2001, diplomats from around the world will gather in Stockholm, Sweden, to sign the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The new treaty, one of many important initiatives growing out of the 1992 Earth Summit, represents the most ambitious effort by the global community, to date, to rein in and ultimately halt the proliferation of toxic chemicals.
Unlike other chemical treaties that rely on notification requirements or end-of-pipe pollution controls, the new convention calls for outright banning and destruction. The treaty is designed to eliminate or severely restrict production and use of a pernicious group of pesticides and industrial chemicals; ensure environmentally sound management and chemical transformation of POPs waste; and prevent the emergence of new chemicals with POPs-like characteristics.
The treaty targets some of the world’s most dangerous chemicals (Table 1). Persistent organic pollutants pose a particular hazard because of four common characteristics: they are toxic; they are persistent, resisting normal processes that break down contaminants, they accumulate in the body fat of people, marine mammals and other animals and are passed from mother to fetus; and they can travel great distances – typically from temperate and tropical regions to the poles – on wind and water currents. Even small quantities of POPs can wreak havoc in human and animal tissue, causing nervous system damage, diseases of the immune system, reproductive and developmental disorders and cancers.
The POPs treaty was finalized last December by consensus of the 122 negotiating governments, with the support of both the chemical industry trade associations and environmental/public health groups including the more than 300 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participating in the International POPs Elimination Network. WWF and other NGOs are pleased with many elements of the treaty. These include its embrace of precaution in the face of uncertainty about the nature and extent of toxic chemical threats; the requirement that developed country parties provide new and additional financial resources so that all nations can participate in treaty implementation; the appeal to parties to prevent the production and use of new POPs chemicals; the elimination goal for dioxins and other byproduct POPs; the call for substitute products and processes rather than reliance on pollution scrubbers and filters; and the presumption that all parties agree to control new POPs added to treaty annexes.
Key elements of the Stockholm POPs Convention include:
Precaution as the guiding principle.Precaution, including transparency and public participation, is operationalised throughout the treaty, with explicit references in the preamble, objective, provisions for adding POPs and determination of best available technologies. The objective states: “Mindful of the precautionary approach as set forth in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the objective of this Convention is to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants.”
Funding commitments enabling all countries to participate.Developed country parties commit to providing new and additional financial resources to developing country parties and parties with economies in transition. Adequacy, predictability and timely flow of funds are essential. The treaty calls for regular review by the Conference of parties of both the level of funding and the effectiveness of performance of the institutions entrusted with the treaty’s financial operations. On an interim basis, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) will serve as the treaty’s principal financial mechanism.
Eliminating intentionally produced POPs. Of 12 targeted POPs, eight are pesticides, most of which are slated for immediate bans once the treaty takes effect. A longer phase-out is planned for certain PCB uses. DDT provisions include the goal of ultimate elimination, limiting use to disease vector control in accordance with WHO guidelines. The treaty calls for research, development and implementation of safe, effective and affordable alternatives to DDT. Parties that have regulatory and assessment schemes for new chemicals are called on to “take measures to regulate with the aim of preventing” the production and use of any new POPs.
Ultimately eliminating byproduct POPs. For dioxins, furans and hexachlorobenzene, parties are called on to reduce total releases “with the goal of their continuing minimisation and, where feasible, ultimate elimination”. Rather than rely on end-of-pipe pollution control technologies, the treaty urges the use of substitute or modified materials, products and processes to prevent the formation and release of by-product POPs.
Environmentally sound management and disposal of POPs wastes(including stockpiles, products, articles in use and materials contaminated with POPs). The POP content in waste is to be destroyed, irreversibly transformed, or, in very limited situations, otherwise disposed of in an environmentally sound manner in co-ordination with Basel Convention requirements.
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Table 1. The UNEP “Dirty Dozen” POPs
Persistent OrganicDate of Definition and primary application
Pollutantintroduction
Aldrin1949Insecticide used against soil pests (primarily termites) on corn, cotton and potatoes.
Chlordane1945Insecticide now used primarily for termite control
DDT1942Insecticide now used mainly against mosquitoes.
Dieldrin1948Insecticide used on fruit, soil and seed crops, including corn, cotton and potatoes.
Endrin1951Rodenticide and insecticide used on cotton, rice and corn
Heptachlor1948Insecticide used against soil insects, especially termites. Also used against fire ants and mosquitoes.
Hexachlorobenzene1945Fungicide. Also a byproduct of pesticide manufacturing and a contaminant of other pesticide products.
Mirex1959Insecticide used on ants and termites. One of the most stable and persistent pesticides. Also a fire retardant.
Toxaphene1948Insecticide used especially against ticks and mites. A mixture of up to 670 chemicals.
PCBs 1929Used primarily in capacitors and transformers, and in hydraulic and heat transfer systems. Also used in weatherproofing, carbon less copy paper, paint, adhesives and plasticizers in synthetic resins.
Dioxins1920sByproducts of combustion (especially of plastics) and of chlorine product manufacturing and paper bleaching.
Furans1920sByproducts, especially of PCB manufacturing, often with dioxins.
Source: Anne Platt McGinn, Why Poison Ourselves? A Precautionary Approach to Synthetic Chemicals, Worldwatch Paper 153, November 2000.
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Strict limitations and bans on trade.Trade in POPs is allowed only for the purpose of environmentally sound disposal or in other very limited circumstances where the importing State provides certification of its environmental and human health commitments and its compliance with the POPs treaty’s waste provisions. Delegates rejected a proposed World Trade Organisation “supremacy clause” that could have encouraged States to challenge the treaty’s trade-related measures.
Limited and transparent exemptions.Most exemptions to the treaty requirements are chemical- and country-specific. But there are broader exceptions for use in laboratory-scale research; for small quantities in the possession of an end-user; and for quantities occurring as unintentional trace contaminants in products. Notification procedures and other conditions apply to exemptions for POPs as constituents of manufactured articles and for certain closed-system site-limited intermediates.
The World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a lead NGO in the important and sometimes very contentious negotiations, welcomes the POPs treaty as a giant step forward. But it is only a first step - vigilance must continue, both preceding entry into force and throughout the implementation phase. Prior to, during, and following the Stockholm Diplomatic Conference we will urge government officials and other stakeholders to:
(a) Expedite ratification of the POPs Convention by at least 50 countries so that it can enter into force before the end of 2002. High-level government officials and others can elect to make statements at the Conference -- this will be a prime occasion for nations to declare their intent to pursue early ratification of the treaty. WWF is calling on governments to sign and ratify the Convention prior to the Rio+10 World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. More broadly, the Rio+10 Summit in Johannesburg offers a very special opportunity for nations to announce their ratifications of a package of chemicals-related treaties that will make the world a safer place for current and future generations:
•the Stockholm POPs Convention (for which ratifications can commence after 23 May 2001);
•the Rotterdam PIC Convention (13 ratifications, to date, of 50 required);
•the Basel Convention (145 ratifications thus far) and its 1995 ban on the export of hazardous wastes from OECD to non-OECD countries (24 ratifications, to date, of 62 required); and
•the 1996 Protocol to the 1972 London Convention on ocean dumping (13 ratifications, to date, of 26 required -- of which 15 must be parties to the LC).
(b)Make significant new commitments to provide technical and financial assistance to developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Such assistance by developed/donor governments is critical to ensure full and effective participation both preceding and following the treaty’s entry into force. WWF supports draft resolutions calling for the GEF to establish a chemicals “focal area” and for GEF Trust Fund donors to contribute additional financial resources so that the GEF can effectively perform its POPs treaty mandate. We also endorse resolutions calling on States and regional economic integration organisations to make voluntary contributions to the UNEP Trust Fund for interim activities, and to provide direct technical and financial assistance for treaty implementation, including training, infrastructure development and capacity building.
(c) Examine additional chemicals for early inclusion in the treaty. The Stockholm Conference will consider draft resolutions directing the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to establish an interim POPs Review Committee. That subsidiary body should be authorised to begin – before the treaty’s entry into force – the screening of additional POPs candidates for listing in annexes A, B or C. WWF applauds efforts to get a “head start” in reviewing candidate POPs, recognising that no decisions on adding chemicals can be made until after the treaty is in force. To facilitate such review, the chemical industry needs to develop and disseminate data on chemical persistence and bioaccumulation, information that is urgently needed but often not available.
Possible additions to the POPs treaty would include four chemicals listed in the regionally-focused United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution’s (LRTAP) Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants: the insecticide chlordecone (kepone); the pesticide hexachlorocyclohexane (which includes lindane); polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons released in the burning of oil, coal and other organic materials; and hexabromobiphenyl, a fire retardant additive. Other chemicals or groups of substances which warrant immediate scrutiny for possible future inclusion in the POPs treaty include pentabrominated diphenyl ether, a flame retardant; polychlorinated napthalenes used in capacitors, electrical insulators and as engine oil additives; substances which break down into perfluorooctanyl sulfonate; ochtachlorostyrene, an unwanted byproduct; and endosulfan, an insecticide.
(d) Take national, regional and private sector actions that go beyond treaty provisions, both in terms of implementing treaty elements early and with respect to adopting more stringent environmental and public health measures than those required by the treaty. The upcoming ceremonies in Stockholm offer an auspicious start to such efforts: Sweden ranks as one of the world’s leaders in advancing policies that substitute safe alternatives in place of toxic chemicals, hold corporations accountable for the pollution they create, and advocate precaution where scientific evidence suggests toxic threats to wildlife or people.
Effective implementation of the POPs treaty will require the hard work, wisdom and resources of governments, industry, NGOs and other stakeholders. Although many challenges lie ahead, it’s gratifying to start off the new millennium knowing that a solid foundation has been put in place, on to which further reforms can be made in the ongoing effort to protect and conserve life on Earth.
This article was printed in Sustainable Development International, Spring 2001 Edition,
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