IPEN Article in the GEF Newsletter:


 




Working Together for A Toxics-Free Future: Applying Global Chemical Policy to Local Practice




By Bj�rn Beeler, International Coordinator IPEN, bbeeler@ciel.org

The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) is a global network of more than 700 public interest non-governmental organizations working together for the elimination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and other persistent toxic substances on an expedited yet socially equitable basis. IPEN mission includes achieving a world in which chemicals are no longer produced or used in ways that harm human health and the environment, and where POPs and chemicals of equivalent concern no longer pollute our local and global environments, and no longer contaminate our communities, our food, our bodies, or the bodies of our children and future generations. IPEN promotes NGO participation in international chemical policy processes and NGO capacity building to both contribute to the development of such policies as well as apply these policies on the ground in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

img POPs & the Stockholm Convention Negotiations

IPEN was founded in 1998 in Montreal, Canada during the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a global, legally-binding instrument on POPs. Initially, IPEN�s main objective was to secure the adoption of a strong and effective global POPs treaty. When the Stockholm Convention was adopted in 2001, IPEN revised its platform and scope of work, and agreed that IPEN�s new mission would be: . . . to facilitate effective involvement by its Participating Organizations in local, national, and international activities to promote the elimination of POPs and other persistent toxic substances.

GEF MSP: The International POPs Elimination Project

Once the Stockholm Convention was adopted, IPEN moved to put the policy into practice. With help from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other donors, IPEN began to establish its regional infrastructure, and soon was able to support over 290 NGO activities contributing to national preparations for Stockholm Convention implementation in 65 developing countries and countries with economies in transition. This IPEN project was known as the International POPs Elimination Project (IPEP).

Sustainability & Continuity Beyond IPEP

The eight IPEN Regional Hubs established in 2004 are sustainable operations today. In 2007, after IPEP was completed, the Regional Hubs continued to maintain regional networks, and began conducting a 2-year Regional Assessment with over 200 NGOs in 80 countries. In 2009, 3-year Regional Action Plan frameworks were finalized, which highlight priority chemical concerns, needs, capacities and opportunities for future activities. Today the eight IPEN Regional Hubs maintain regional NGO networks functioning in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Russian.

Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)

In 2003, IPEN further extended its scope of work by agreeing to engage, as a network, in the preparatory process to develop a strategic approach to international chemicals management (SAICM). IPEN coordinated participation and interventions by public health and environmental NGOs in all SAICM preparatory meetings and in the 2006 Dubai Intergovernmental Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM), where SAICM was agreed. In the margins of the ICCM, IPEN adopted a new common platform: the IPEN Declaration for a Toxics-Free Future, which states, that IPEN has an: �. . . expanded commitment to work for and achieve by the year 2020 a Toxics-Free Future, in which all chemicals are produced and used in ways that eliminate significant adverse effects on human health and the environment, and where POPs and chemicals of equivalent concern no longer pollute our local and global environments, and no longer contaminate our communities, our food, our bodies, or the bodies of our children and future generations.�

Global SAICM Outreach: Making SAICM Real to Civil Society

Since 2006, IPEN has broadened civil society participation from developing and transition countries in SAICM through creation and implementation of the SAICM Global Outreach Campaign. Beyond the hundreds of IPEN Participating Organizations, this Campaign has brought in several other key international health, labor, and agriculture NGO networks to form a global NGO coalition to raise awareness about SAICM.


This Campaign has served to expand civil society awareness in all regions where toxic chemical exposure represents a real and growing threat to public health and the environment. IPEN has been a principle player in securing commitments from NGOs and other civil society organizations stating their intention to participate in national and local efforts that contribute to the SAICM implementation, with the goal of advancing toward the achievement of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and SAICM 2020 goal. Today, more than 1,000 NGOs in over 110 countries have joined the Campaign.

The SAICM Global Outreach Campaign produced NGO guides to POPs, SAICM and Hazardous Pesticides, plus and Citizens� Report for the 2nd International Conference on Chemicals Management. The educational booklets (below) are available in many different languages (see http://www.ipen.org/campaign/).



Heavy Metals: Lead & Mercury

By 2008 IPEN had begun to expand its efforts into heavy metals, due to NGO priorities noted in 2007/2008 Regional Assessments and the evolving landscape of chemical policy issues, specifically on lead and mercury.
Initially focusing on a push for the global elimination of lead in paint, IPEN, working with NGOs across the globe, and launched the Children's Health First and Eliminate Lead Paint campaign. Unfortunately, lead in paint is an old toxic threat still affecting young children today.
In 2002, the WSSD took two vital decisions to protect children's health from exposure to lead. The first called for the phase out of lead in gasoline, and the second, the phase out of lead in lead-based paints and in other sources of human exposure. This paved the way for an IPEN Participating Organization from India, Toxics Link, to form a partnership to promote the global phase-out of lead in paints. This partnership proposed a global phase-out at the ICCM2 in May 2009, where it was endorsed. From there, the SAICM Global Partnership to Eliminate Lead in Paint was created.

In addition, IPEN�s constituency pushed for IPEN to engage in preliminary discussions for global action on mercury. Therefore, following an IPEN international sampling activity on products containing mercury and their alternatives and the UNEP Governing Councils decision to negotiate a global mercury treaty in 2009, IPEN established an IPEN Heavy Metals Working Group. Since then, IPEN has adopted an IPEN �Views on a Global Mercury Treaty�, with the aim to promote a strong mercury treaty to reduce and eliminate mercury threats to children, communities and the environment.


Learn more about IPEN�s Toxics-Free Future mission and work at www.ipen.org and see the online animation at www.ipen.org/info.








top of page   Version: May 2010