1. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs):
Recent Developments in the
Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS)

John Buccini
Director, Commercial Chemicals Evaluation Branch
Environment Canada
Hull, Quebec, Canada K1A 0H3

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic compounds of natural or anthropogenic origin that resist photolytic, chemical and biological degradation. They are characterised by low water solubility and high lipid solubility, resulting in bioaccumulation in fatty tissues of living organisms. POPs are transported in the environment in low concentrations by movement of fresh and marine waters and they are semi-volatile, enabling them to move long distances in the atmosphere, resulting in wide-spread distribution across the earth, including regions where they have never been used. Thus, both humans and environmental organisms are exposed to POPs around the world, in many cases for extended periods of time.

Over the past several years, the risks posed by POPs have become of increasing concern in many countries, resulting in actions to protect human health and the environment being taken or proposed at the national, regional and international levels.

In this paper I will present some perspectives on national and international efforts to identify, characterize and control POPs. I will not cover all aspects of the subject, nor will I attempt a detailed description due to time limitations and the fact that other speakers at this meeting will present papers on specific aspects. I will cover 3 topics: (1) identify some international initiatives that address POPs; (2) provide a summary of the UNEP/IFCS initiative on POPs; and (3) indicate the essential role of national and international participants in the development of policies and programs to control POPs.

The following list includes some of the major ongoing regional and global initiatives that are directed at identifying POPs and developing risk management measures to control the exposure of humans and the ecosystem to these substances.

1. Proposed UNEP Global Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Governing Council Decision 19/13C, February 1997).

 

2. UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (Washington, D.C., October 23 - November 3, 1995).

3. UN ECE Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) which includes POPs (as well as three heavy metals - lead, cadmium and mercury).

 

4. Helsinki Convention for the Protection of the Baltic (Helcom).

 

5. 4th International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea.

 

6. Oslo-Paris (Ospar) Convention for the Protection of the North-East Atlantic.

 

7. Barcelona Resolution on the Environment and Sustainable Development in the Mediterranean Basin.

 

8. Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy of the Circumpolar Nations.

 

9. North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NACEC) Resolution 95-5 on the Sound Management of Chemicals (October 13,1995), which gives immediate priority for persistent toxic substances and which has resulted in the development of continental actions plans for DDT, chlordane and PCBs.

10. Canada-USA Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, including the recent Binational Toxics Strategy (April 1997), which emphasizes action on POPs as well as other persistent toxic substances.

 

While this list is not exhaustive, it does show that POPs have been and will continue to be the subject of considerable attention for both scientists and policy makers.

I will now focus on one of these initiatives - the UNEP agreement to establish a global convention on POPs - which I have been involved in since June 1995. I will describe the initial stimulus of the exercise, the role of the IFCS in the process, the progress made to date, the importance of science in decision-making, and the near-term prospects for further developments in this initiative.

The May 1995 meeting of the UNEP Governing Council (GC) adopted Decision 18/32 on POPs, which invited the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC), working with the International Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS), to initiate an expeditious assessment process, initially beginning with a short-list of twelve POPs (PCBs, dioxins, furans, aldrin, dieldrin, DDT, endrin, chlordane, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene and heptachlor). As specified in the following text taken from Decision 18/32, this assessment process should, taking into account the circumstances of developing countries and countries with economies in transition:

"a) consolidate existing information available from IPCS, UN ECE and other relevant sources, on the chemistry and toxicology of the substances concerned (particularly the impact on human, plant and animal health);

b) analyze the relevant transport pathways and the origin, transport and deposition of these substances on a global scale;

c) examine the sources, benefits, risks and other considerations relevant to production and use;

d) evaluate the availability, including costs and effectiveness, of preferable substitutes, where applicable; and

e) assess realistic response strategies, policies and mechanisms for reducing and/or eliminating emissions, discharges and losses of POPs."

 

Based on the results of this process, together with the outcome of the UNEP Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt a Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (Washington, D.C., October 23 - November 3, 1995), IFCS was invited to develop recommendations and information on international action, including any information that would be needed for a possible decision on an appropriate international legal mechanism on POPs, to be considered at the 1997 sessions of the UNEP GC (January) and the World Health Assembly (WHA, May).

At a UNEP meeting in Washington (Oct.23 - Nov. 3, 1995), countries adopted a Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment which, in part: recognized the importance of controlling releases of POPs; specified actions that should be taken on POPs; and encouraged countries to participate actively in implementing GC 18/32. The following paragraph from the Washington Declaration on Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (November 2, 1995) was, therefore, taken into consideration in implementing Decision 18/32.

"17. Acting to develop, in accordance with the provisions of the Global Programme of Action, a global, legally binding instrument for the reduction and/or elimination of emissions, discharges and, where appropriate, the elimination of the manufacture and use of the persistent organic pollutants identified in decision 18/32 of the Governing council of the United Nations Environment Programme. The nature of the obligations undertaken must be developed recognizing the special circumstances of countries in need of assistance. Particular attention should be devoted to the potential need for the continued use of certain persistent organic pollutants to safeguard human health, sustain food production and to alleviate poverty in the absence of alternatives and the difficulty of acquiring substitutes and transferring of technology for the development and/or production of those substitutes;"

An international multistakeholder working group (Working Group) was established to implement Decision 18/32: initially established as a Working Group under UNEP, the group was later adopted by IFCS in order to discharge IFCS obligations to provide recommendations to UNEP Governing Council, as requested in Decision 18/32. This Working Group included representatives from intergovernmental organizations, governments, industry, public interest groups and scientific organizations from around the world. In initiating the assessment process requested by Decision 18/32, the Working Group took into account related international initiatives including:

(i) UNEP GC Decision 18/12, which concerns the development of a legally binding instrument for the application of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure for certain hazardous chemicals in international trade, recognizing that some of the POPs specified in Decision 18/32 are covered by the present voluntary PIC procedures;

 

(ii) UNEP GC Decision 18/31, which encouraged support for the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (wherein specific reference was made to POPs) that was subsequently accepted at the UNEP Intergovernmental Conference, as reflected in the Washington Declaration on Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, and that involves countries in national, regional and international activities to implement the Plan;

 

(iii) the negotiations initiated in 1996 on a possible POPs protocol under the UN ECE Convention on LRTAP; and

 

(iv) the regional seas agreements, including conventions and protocols.

 

Based on meetings in Washington (October 1995), Canberra (March 1996) and Manila (June 1996), the Working Group developed the required IFCS report and recommendations which were unanimously supported by all parties and submitted to UNEP and WHA for consideration in their 1997 meetings.

The IFCS report and its recommendations were based on several documents developed by the Working Group. The basic review of chemistry and toxicology was included in the report Persistent Organic Pollutants, An Assessment Report on DDT, Aldrin, Dieldrin, Endrin, Chlordane, Heptachlor, Hexachlorobenzene, Mirex, Toxaphene, Polychlorinated biphenyls, Dioxins and Furans (December 1995, ISG/96.5B). Several other documents were developed for use at an experts meeting (Manila, June 1996) including two reports on alternatives to POPs that were developed by Sweden and which will be the subject of a paper on July 2 at this workshop (IFCS/EXP.POPs.4.CMPL; IFCS/EXP.POPs.5). Another paper, entitled Persistent Organic Pollutants: Socio-economic Considerations for Global Action (IFCS/EXP.POPs.2), was prepared as a theme paper for the Manila experts' meeting and the report of the experts meeting is also available (IFCS/EXP.POPs/Report.1). All the Working Group documents are available from IFCS and copies of some of them are available at this workshop.

The IFCS recommendations were approved by both UNEP (Governing Council Decision 19/13C) and WHA. The following are key conclusions and recommendations from the IFCS report that were reflected in the UNEP GC and WHA decisions.

Sufficient information was available on the chemistry, toxicology, transport pathways, origin, transport and deposition of the 12 POPs to demonstrate the need for immediate international action on the 12 specified POPs and to provide a basis for moving forward on realistic response strategies.

The significance of achieving this agreement cannot be understated as it marked a turning point in the consultations from a discussion of whether action was warranted to a discussion of what action to take and how to proceed. I stress this point because frequently in the discussion of environmental issues, whether action is sought at the local, national, regional or international level, debates over the adequacy of the scientific documentation prevents decisions from being taken to implement action. This should, therefore, be of interest to those who contribute to the scientific discussions that influence the taking of policy decisions. Research studies or assessments of the scientific database should be focussed on the key aspects of the issues under discussion; efforts that add to existing knowledge may not contribute to decision-making unless they contribute to key issues in the debate. This should be kept in mind in the coming years as the international community addresses the challenge of designing and implementing a global convention on POPs, including the identification of additional POPs that could be considered for addition to the future convention.

UNEP and WHA have agreed that immediate international action should be initiated to protect human health and the environment through measures which will reduce and/or eliminate the emissions and discharges of the 12 POPs specified in Decisions 18/32 and 19/13C and, where appropriate, eliminate production and subsequently the remaining use of those POPs that are intentionally produced. Proposed action programs must take into account that the 12 specified POPs include pesticides, industrial chemicals, and unintentionally produced by-products and contaminants, and that, within the framework of overarching objectives to be negotiated by an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC), different approaches are needed for each category of POPs.

UNEP has agreed to prepare for and convene, by early 1998, together with WHO and other relevant international organisations, an INC with a mandate to prepare, preferably by the year 2000, an international legally binding instrument for implementing international action, initially beginning with the 12 specified POPs and taking into account the conclusions and recommendations of the IFCS ad hoc Working Group on POPs. Provision should be made for commitments at a national and regional level allowing for a higher level of protection than that afforded through the global instrument. In addition, consideration should be given to voluntary measures which may be implemented as a complement to, or independently of, a legally binding instrument.

Participation in the INC should be open to governments and relevant non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations. Coordination among different regional and international initiatives on POPs is essential to ensure harmonized environmental and health outcomes from mutually supportive and effective programs that result in the development of policies with complementary, and non-conflicting, objectives.

A process will be required to develop science-based criteria and a procedure for identifying POPs, in addition to the 12 specified in Decisions 18/32 and 19/13C, as candidates for future international action. The process should incorporate criteria pertaining to persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and exposure in different regions, and should take into account dispersion mechanisms for the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, migratory species and the need to reflect possible influences of marine transport and tropical climates.

An expert group will be established at the first meeting of the INC to carry out this work. The expert group should include scientific and socio-economic expertise relevant to the POPs issue and be representative of countries in different stages of development and from different geographical regions, as well as participants from relevant nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations. The expert group should consider the criteria and procedure being considered by the UN-ECE and should also take full account of varied ecosystems and the circumstances of developing countries and countries with economies in transition, as well as the need to conserve biodiversity and protect endangered species. The principles set out in the Rio Declaration, especially Principle 15 which includes a reference to the precautionary approach, and the provisions of Chapter 19 of Agenda 21 should also be taken into account.

UNEP Governing Council urged governments to initiate action on the recommendations in the Final Report of the IFCS ad hoc Working Group on POPs and to provide technical assistance, capacity building and funding to enable developing countries and countries with economies in transition to take appropriate action on POPs.

Governing Council Decision 19/13C requested UNEP to initiate immediate action on POPs in response to recommendations in the IFCS report including:

(a) general awareness raising on the national, regional and global aspects of POPs;

 

(b) information exchange, within and between countries and intergovernmental organizations;

 

(c) promoting information exchange on alternative products and processes to reduce or eliminate POPs generation, use and release;

 

(d) assisting countries in identifying and developing inventories of PCBs and in identifying world wide capacity to destroy PCBs;

 

(e) developing inventories of information on dioxins and furans, including sources of releases and practices to manage these releases; and

 

(f) collecting information that will be used in the INC negotiations to assist the development of criteria and a process for identifying additional POPs.

 

At the second meeting of the IFCS (Ottawa, Canada, February 10-14, 1997), countries were informed of the progress of the ad hoc Working Group on POPs and agreed to continue the Working Group according to the following terms of reference to assist in preparing for the UNEP INC process and to focus efforts of governments to take action on POPs.

A workshop was held in St. Petersburg from July 1-4, 1997. This was the first sub-regional meeting intended to raise awareness of the many issues that must be addressed in preparing nations for the commencement of the UNEP INC process in early 1998. It also provided an opportunity to gather the views and concerns of nations in the region with regard to the scientific, technical, social and economic challenges that must be addressed during the development and implementation of a global legally binding convention to reduce the releases of POPs to the environment. Based on the results of the St. Petersburg workshop, I recommended to the President and Bureau of the IFCS that future sub-regional workshops be co-sponsored by both UNEP and IFCS to ensure that the IFCS ad hoc Working Group on POPs can meet its terms of reference and contribute to this consultation and awareness building process in the most efficient and effective manner. This agreement was obtained in September and, as a result, this and future workshops are designed as UNEP and IFCS jointly sponsored activities. The objectives for this meeting are clearly presented in the programme for this workshop and the results of your deliberations will provide valuable input to the upcoming INC process.

Much of the material in this paper is taken from the Final Report of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety ad hoc Working Group on Persistent Organic Pollutants (IFCS/WG.POPs/Report.1, July 1, 1996). This report may be obtained from the author of this paper or from the IFCS Secretariat, c/o World Health Organisation, Geneva (Tel. 41-22-791-3581; Fax. 41-22-791-4875; e-mail. stoberj@who.ch). Information on UNEP Governing Council Decisions and programs may be obtained from the POPs Team, UNEP Chemicals, Geneva (Tel. 41-22-979-9171; Fax. 41-22- 797-3460; e-mail, pops@unep.ch).