Opening Statement
by Dr. Salem M. Al Dhaheri
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this Regional Awareness Raising Workshop on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) which come out as a well developed and collaborative joint organization between the Federal Environmental Agency and Other several specialized UNEP agencies.
Dear respected guests,
In order to achieve prosperity and luxurious life on this earth, man has used almost all the natural resources and invented new and advanced technologies to reach his goals. Moreover, the style of modem life now a day has also imposed the utilization of different types of chemicals increasingly at this era of 2Oth century. These aspects with no doubt have enhanced man's success towards natural resources exploitation to meet with his own needs for a prosperous life. Nevertheless, this unwise and intensive depletion and destruction of the natural resources and the excessive rate of consumption has resulted in an adverse health effect and negative consequence of the natural environment and this fact is due to the existence of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
It is known those POPs as highly stable compounds are used as pesticides or in industry. These chemical compounds have their own characteristics such as:
a. Persist in the environment for a long time before they break down;
b. Travel for long distance to all parts of the globe, even remote areas, thousands of kilometers from the nearest POPs source;
c. Accumulate in the tissue of most living organisms;
d. Poison humans and wildlife, causing a wide range of toxic effects.
However, the agricultural field was the most experimental area, where halogenated hydrocarbons were used intensively as pesticides to control pests. In spite of the international bans on the use of pesticides, there have been cases where some countries do still use these harmful chemicals. Also, the power generating and transforming stations as well as industrial processes are other examples of POPs generating sources that are harmful to the natural ecosystems.
As a result of the dramatic growth in chemical manufacturing and intensive use, accumulation of industrial wastes together with other human activities, the human health and the environment undergo a serious threat and profound implications for all of us. These facts enable us to work hard and highlight the risks of such pollutants in order to eliminate the risks of POPs and establish alternatives, both chemicals and non-chemical which are safe to the human health and the environment.
Therefore, there is clearly a need for a strong collaborative efforts at a global basis to minimize and reduce the adverse effects of POPs and effective alternatives will have to be developed before a chemical can be completely phased out. This only could be achieved by supporting UNEP/IFCS trend and action in establishing an international action, including a global legally binding instrument to reduce the risks of the discharges of 12 POPs, internationally recognized chemicals.
This workshop which is convened in UAE, is one of a serial workshops organized by UNEP worldwide, and it will address during three consequence days, the issue of the threat and daring risks of persistent organic pollutant that might be caused, in order to raise the awareness of all participants, seeking to have the act and action of their countries in the upcoming negotiations of the intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on a legally binding global POPs convention, and to assist them in determining what immediate national and/or regional actions may be appropriate to protect against the risks of POPs. Also, case studies of POPs related health and environmental problems, and the challenges posed by POPs experienced countries worldwide, particularly in the West Asia Region will be addressed. Finally, the workshop will tackle actions taken by countries to address both national and regional POPs problems as examples of approaches that can lead to opportunities for immediate reductions in risks of POPs to human health and the environment.
We are fully confident that the comprehensive workshop program and the high level remarkable status of UNEP lecturers, together with the positive participation of all of you, will certainly enable this workshop to meet its ambitious goals.
Dear guests,
Finally, I would like to welcome all respected lecturers from different parts of the world
and UNEP Chemicals I IFCS and all participants from West Asia Region of UNEP, and thanks
go to all efforts that make this event successful.
Wishing you a pleasant stay and best wishes,