KEEP THE PROMISE - The Stockholm Convention and Promises to Keep at COP1:


Global | Apr 4, 2005



IPEN Participating Organizations demand the international community to Keep the Promise to eliminate POPs as detailed in the Stockholm Convention.


(Arabic, Spanish, Russian and English text of IPEN COP1 Position Brief are available below for downloading)



The Stockholm Convention

KEEP THE PROMISE

The Stockholm Convention on POPs is the first global, legally binding instrument whose aim is to protect human health and the environment by controlling production, use and disposal of toxic chemicals. IPEN views the Stockholm Convention text as a promise to take the actions needed to protect the global public’s health and the global environment from the injuries that are caused by persistent organic pollutants, a promise that was agreed by representatives of the global community: governments, interested stakeholders, and representatives of civil society. We call upon all Stockholm Convention Parties and stakeholders to honor the integrity of the Convention text at the first Conference of the Parties (COP1) in Uruguay. Keep the promise!!

PROMISES TO KEEP

1. FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL RESOURCES

Financial and technical resources must be provided to developing country Parties to cover the full incremental costs associated with fulfilling their obligations under the Stockholm Convention. Regular monitoring and evaluation of how financial resources are utilized is needed. This is an explicit promise in the Stockholm Convention text that must be honored.

2. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND AWARENESS

IPEN calls upon all Parties and signatories to keep the Convention promise of full access to information, transparency and public participation in Convention implementation activities, including the design and application of National Implementation Plans and other related activities. In the spirit of Article 10, special attention should be given to women, children and workers in public awareness and training programs to raise awareness of the effects of POPs on human health and the environment, and the availability of alternatives.

3. ELIMINATE INTENTIONALLY PRODUCED POPS

We are hopeful that all production and use of most of the listed POPs pesticides will quickly end, and that PCBs still in use will be phased out even more quickly than the Convention’s 2025 final deadline The COP should consider establishing an international expert group to evaluate ways to halt and reverse the further development of illegal, cross-boundary trafficking in POPs. The Convention properly exempts DDT use for the purpose of disease vector control, but sets as its goal, “reducing and ultimately elimination of the use of DDT.” Unfortunately, diversions of DDT to uses that are not approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) are being promoted by an irresponsible but well-funded international public relations campaign aimed at convincing world opinion that (in the face of good evidence to the contrary), DDT has minimal or no adverse human health impacts. Realistically, the limiting factor in how rapidly DDT can be globally phased out depends on the amount and the quality of international assistance aimed at delivering superior means of controlling malaria and similar vector-born diseases. IPEN calls upon Parties to address this limiting factor, to consider holistic alternatives and to promote substitutes for internally produced POPs that are not harmful to human health or the environment.

4. ELIMINATE AND REDUCE UNINTENTIONAL POPS

The agreed text establishes the Convention's goal for U-POPs to be "their continuing minimization and, where feasible, ultimate elimination." For NGOs associated with IPEN, this goal is a critical, guiding principle. Two important documents may be considered by the Parties:

BEST AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES/BEST ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES (BAT/BEP)

The draft BAT/BEP Provisional Guidelines document remains a work-in-progress with some very useful sections, and with others where substantial further work is needed. As an example, a reader of the Guidelines could easily conclude that it is acceptable for any cement kiln, of any design, in any region of the world, to accept and burn POPs waste and other halogenated wastes; and if the kiln is “properly operated,” doing so will result in U-POPs releases of at most, “minor importance.” The Stockholm Convention correctly states that using a cement kiln to burn POPs wastes or other halogenated wastes has the potential to generate and release large quantities of U-POPs to the environment. This exemplifies the inconsistencies in the BAT/BEP Guidelines and the need for further work. The BAT/BEP guidelines draft is a useful document that reflects a lot of good work and contains information Parties could find valuable in their NIP development activities. However, the draft has substantial inadequacies and is not ready for adoption at COP1. It should be further developed with the goal of preparing a more finished version for adoption at COP2.

The Expert Group the Parties establish at COP1 to continue their work on BAT/BEP Guidelines should additionally take up guidelines on substitute or modified material and products as called for in Article 5(c).

DIOXIN TOOLKIT

We recommend that the Parties do not adopt the Dioxin Toolkit; it is a flawed document that poses serious limitations to implementing the Stockholm Convention. We suggest COP1 call for substantial revisions, noting specifically the following points. The information sources that the Dioxin Toolkit use to reach conclusions should be fully documented. When there is considerable uncertainty, emission factors should not be reported as a single number, but should be listed as a likely high figure, a likely low figure, and a likely median figure. In addition the Dioxin Toolkit should use data from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, so that the Toolkit is not limited to references and circumstances only from developed countries. Making these revisions will help Parties put the conclusions they draw when using the Dioxin Toolkit into a more balanced perspective.

During the revision, Parties and stakeholders need better opportunities to provide input and to review the results, in order to insure a more responsive and transparent process. Finally, the revised Dioxin Toolkit should be subject to independent review and verification by experts in the field who have no personal stake in the work. Since each country’s dioxin inventory has a substantial impact on national priorities and resource allocations in its National Implementation Plan, a more accurate and transparent Dioxin Toolkit is essential.

5. DISPOSAL OF POPS WASTES

The Basel Convention POPs Waste Guidelines should not be adopted at COP1, because they are not consistent with Article 6 of the Stockholm Convention. The Basel Guidelines do not establish levels of destruction and irreversible transformation that ensure that POPs characteristics are no longer exhibited. Instead, they permit significant releases of POPs to the environment.

Allowable levels of POPs releases in the current version of the Basel POPs Waste Guidelines are not specific, do not take into account considerations of potential harm to public health and the environment, and are not based on the capabilities of available technologies for the destruction/irreversible transformation of POPs in wastes.

The Stockholm Convention, in Article 6(c), calls for work to define “low” POPs content. The purpose is to distinguish between those POPs wastes that must undergo destruction or irreversible transformation, and wastes with low POPs content that may be otherwise disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. The current Basel POPs Waste Guidelines set the definition of “low” at levels that are inappropriately high. If this definition stands, it will become difficult for Parties to mobilize resources in order to properly detoxify POPs wastes, and this will have profoundly negative impacts on public health and on environmental protection.

6. IDENTIFY NEW POPS

As an urgent matter, several substances widely used and known to have POPs characteristics – persistence, bio-accumulation, long-range transport and adverse health and environmental impacts – should be nominated for early consideration by the POPs Review Committee (POPRC): hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH, including ?-HCH, lindane), Dicofol, and Endosulfan; brominated flame retardants; perfluorinated chemicals, including but not limited to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS); chlorinated paraffins; organotins; brominated dioxins and bromo-chloro-dioxins; polychorinated napthalenes (PCN) and octachlorostyrene (OCS). Parties should also consider listing methyl mercury.



Attachment:
IPEN COP1 Position Brief - ENGLISH   DOWNLOAD
IPEN COP1 Position Brief - RUSSIAN   DOWNLOAD
IPEN COP1 Position Brief - ARABIC   DOWNLOAD
CUMPLIR LA PROMESA - SPANISH   DOWNLOAD






Version: DRAFT 2.0 (June 1, 2006)