IPEN Updates & Action Archive:

A list of all IPEN News and Updates by date are on this Archive Page for your reference.

POPs and Climate Change

The Stockholm Convention Secretariat and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme developed a report on "Climate Change and POPs: Predicting the Impacts." IPEN Co-Chair Mariann Lloyd-Smith co-authored the policy recommendations chapter in the report.

See the report here

IPEN Study on Toxics in Carpet Padding

IPEN has conducted a study of new carpet padding to identify if toxic substances (known as penta and octa BDEs) are reused/recycled in new carpet padding products. These substances are Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) which are listed on the Stockholm Convention/POPs Treaty, and are on track for global elimination together with DDT, PCB, PFOS and several other toxic pollutants.

View study and BFR info

Co-Chair Interview

Listen to IPEN Co-Chair Dr. Olga Speranskaya being interviewed on the Voice of Russia (26 July, 2011). In the interview Dr. Speranskaya. talks about POPs, how she became involved with the issue of chemical safety and contaminated sites in the EECCA region, asbestos, waste and other important issues.

Listen

IPEN Co-Chair Dr. Olga Speranskaya receives UNEP's Champions of the Earth Award 2011

Ministers and Heads of State from across the globe are convening in New York City, USA to discuss the environment and sustainable development, and potential action for Rio +20. At a ceremony on Tuesday, 10 May, Dr. Olga Speranskaya, IPEN Co-Chair and Head of the Chemicals Programme at the Russian NGO Eco-Accord, was acknowledged for her achievements related to toxics and chemicals.

Felipe Calderón (President, Mexico), Achim Steiner (Executive Director, UNEP), Dr. Olga Speranskaya (Co-Chair, IPEN)

Read Dr. Speranskaya's and the other Champions' bios and speeches

Read the UNEP Press Release

Learn about Mercury Pollution, New IPEN Mercury Book

IPEN has just released "An NGO Introduction to Mercury Pollution." This book provides information about mercury pollution and its harm to human health and the environment. The book also presents the major sources of mercury pollution and calls for civil society efforts at the local, national, and global level to work toward controlling human activities that release mercury into the environment.

IPEN Mercury Book .pdf 1.2MB

Mercury Book in Russian .pdf 3.26MB

Mercury Book in Spanish .pdf 2.19MB

Flame Retardants

Brominated and chlorinated flame retardants have increasingly attracted attention as a problematic class of chemical substances.
Now for the first time, nearly 150 scientists have assembled a comprehensive statement of concern about these chemicals which was recently published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Read the San Antonio Statement on Brominated and Chlorinated Flame.

Environmental Health Perspectives

Editorial

Read the San Antonio Statement on the IPEN page with tranlations.

NGO Press Release

Stockholm Convention 5th Conference of the Parties (COP5)

The Stockholm Convention's Fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from 25 - 29, April, 2011. Representatives from numerous IPEN Participating Organizations attended and participated.

Visit IPEN's COP5 Webpage

Chiba, Japan January 24 2011. Seventy-two NGOs from 42 countries today signed a statement of solidarity with Minamata victims' groups who insist that the ongoing tragedy must be properly addressed by the Government of Japan and the Chisso Corporation before the global mercury treaty can take the name the Minamata Convention in 2013.
Link to the IPEN Media Page

IPEN at INC2

The second meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on Mercury (INC2) will be held in Chiba, Japan from 24 to 28 January, 2011.

Link to the IPEN INC2 page

Dr. Olga Speranskaya confirmed as new IPEN Co-Chair for 2010- 2012
At the end of July, 2010, IPEN confirmed that Dr. Olga Speranskaya of the NGO Eco- Accord in Russia will be IPEN's new Co-Chair for the 2010-2012 term. see more

  Mercury INC1   The first session of the Intergovernment Negotiating Committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on Mercury (INC1) 7-11 June 2010.
Report   SSNC IPEN INC1 Hg Hair Survey Report. A survey of mercury content in the hair of delegates at the first UN negotiating meeting for a global mercury treaty.

Posted June 2010


  IPEN Report   Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) IPEN Report.

Posted January 2010


   IPEN Congratulates and Celebrates IPENers
Olga Speranskaya and Yuyun Ismawati who have been awarded the coveted 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize, for grassroots environmental activism. and
Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment 2009

Posted January 2010


  IPEN COP4 Outcomes:
See the IPEN COP4 Press Releases
and Learn about IPEN's Keep the Promise Campaign and activities to uphold the Stockholm Conventions and the responsibilities of the Parties.

Posted January 2010




  SAICM / ICCM2 Outcomes:
IPEN had hoped the international community at ICCM2 would have take more urgent actions to address the critical toxic chemical problems current and future generations are faced with.
See IPEN ICCM2, Press Releases and Nanotechnology, Press Releases

Posted May 2009




  Global Phase-out of Lead in Paints
The international community at ICCM2 endorsed a proposal from an IPEN participating organization from India, Toxics Link, to form a partnership to promote the global phase-out of lead in paints. To our knowledge, this is the first time an NGO proposal has been adopted for global action by governments and all stakeholders in a UN process on chemicals. Furthermore, the proposal was endorsed by the G8 in April and by the industry itself, via the International Paint and Printing Ink Council in May 2009.

Posted May 2009




  Endosulfan requires global action   UN International Expert Committee: Endosulfan requires global action Pesticide moves closer to a global ban.
Chinese Press Release - .pdf 76KB
Portuguese Press Release - .pdf 48KB
English Press Release - .pdf 148KB

Posted December 2009




  Nanotechnology  as a .pdf 582KB.
A brief background information report from the African workshop on nanotechnology and nanomaterials.
Brief background information on nanotechnology and nanomaterials from Kingston - March 7thh - 2010.
  English as a .pdf 59KB.
  Spanish  as a .pdf 59KB.

Posted March 2009




  Version: March 2011.       Page ID: NUAA038