by Mr. Lars Nordberg

Presented by Ms. Agneta Sudén-Bylhén

The 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution was concluded under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) and is serviced by its secretariat in Geneva. Five Protocols have so far been added to it: two on the control of sulphur emissions, one on nitrogen oxides, one on volatile organic compounds, and one on international cost-sharing for monitoring and modelling.

In November 1996, the Executive Body for the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) requested its negotiating arm, the Working Group on Strategies, to move the negotiations of a protocol on persistent organic pollutants forward as expeditiously as circumstances would allow, so that it might be finalized in early 1998.

This decision is the latest step in a programme of work which started in 1989, when the Executive Body requested experts to prepare a discussion paper on the effects and long-range transport of these substances. Their report pointed out that the combination of properties of this family of chemicals (their persistence, their ability to cycle in and out of the atmosphere, their potential for toxicity, and their biomagnification), together with the fact that they seemed to crop up in areas far away from any primary source, meant that they were potential candidates for a future protocol to the Convention. Consequently, the Executive Body set up a Task Force on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 1990. The Task Force drafted a comprehensive substantiation report on emissions, long-range transport, distribution between media, and abatement techniques, which could be used as a basis for a protocol. In 1994 an ad hoc Preparatory Working Group took over to lay the groundwork for actual negotiations. It drew up an initial priority list of substances, assessed the options for their management or control, considered various elements that should figure in the protocol, and suggested procedures for adding substances to the priority list. After reviewing progress in 1995, the Executive Body requested the Working Group on Strategies to draft a protocol, initially focusing on those substances of highest priority, and to establish a procedure for adding others.

A two-stage process was followed. First the ad hoc Preparatory Working Group, operating as a "non-negotiating forum", drafted a composite negotiating text for the protocol. This text was completed in October 1996. The second stage began in the week of 20-24 January 1997, when the Parties to the Convention, working with the composite text, began formal negotiations within the Working Group on Strategies. The Working Group agreed on the inclusion into the draft protocol of the following fifteen POPs: aldrin, chlordane, chlordecone, DDT (+ DDD + DDE), dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexabromobiphenyl, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, PAHs, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), PCDDs (dioxins), PCDFs (furans), and toxaphene, while the inclusion of three other substances (short-chain chlorinated paraffins, lindane and pentachlorophenol) would require further discussion. A negotiating text for the POPs protocol (including basic obligations, procedures for modifying the list of substances, and technical annexes) was adopted (EB.AIR/WG.5/R.72). The structure of the basic obligations makes it possible to take a wide range of control and management actions, from banning or phasing out substances to restricting their use and controlling their emissions. For many articles and clauses alternatives have been included as a basis for further negotiations. The aim is to draft the protocol so that it can "stand the test of time", by incorporating the possibility to modify the list of substances and the actions taken without making it necessary to renegotiate the entire protocol.

Meetings of designated experts took place on 19 September and 22 October 1997 to prepare a draft of the technical annexes to the protocol (EB.AIR/WG.5/R.74/Rev.2). The most recent negotiating session of the Working Group on Strategies took place from 20 to 24 October 1997 and a Heads of Delegations meeting will be arranged 14 B 15 December to address still outstanding issues. The text of a preliminary draft protocol on POPs is contained in the report of the October session (EB.AIR/WG.5/48).

The preparatory work for a protocol on persistent organic pollutants carried out under the LRTAP Convention has shown how international initiatives dealing with multinational controls on persistent organic pollutants in different geographical and political contexts can strengthen one another. On a sub-regional level, the most notable example is the cooperation with the Paris and Helsinki Commissions for the North Sea/North-East Atlantic and Baltic Sea. Under their respective Conventions, commitments for the reduction in releases of certain persistent organic pollutants have been in place for some time, and together with UN/ECE these Commissions have drawn up emission inventories and completed multi-media transport pathway calculations. Similarly, this potential for cooperation is already evident in the emerging initiative for global controls on persistent organic pollutants. For example, the list of substances identified in UNEP GC 18/32 was originally derived from the LRTAP work. UN/ECE has actively participated in the work of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety's Ad Hoc Working Group on Persistent Organic Pollutants to prepare global action. Considerable time and resources have been saved in the global discussions by building upon and modifying work initially carried out under the LRTAP Convention. The Executive Body believes that its work over the coming year to finalize its protocol on persistent organic pollutants will continue to be of value to the global negotiations and action in regions other than the UN/ECE region. It also believes that the envisaged ambitious regional protocol will help to drastically curb global fluxes of persistent organic pollutants.