by Mr. Lars Nordberg

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 (for details, see overleaf).

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 (POPs) 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 . 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. The protocol is expected to "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. A negotiating session of the Working Group on Strategies took place from 20 to 24 October 1997 and a Heads of Delegations meeting was held 14 - 15 December to address still outstanding issues. A final draft text, based on a version reviewed by legal experts, was agreed at a session from 11 to 13 February 1998. The draft protocol (EB.AIR/1998/2) contains provisions for the fifteen mentioned POPs and HCH (lindane) as well. Some provisions include special exemptions regarding implementation for countries with economies in transition. The protocol, as well as a protocol on heavy metals, will be adopted and signed at a Special Session of the Executive Body on ministerial level, to be held in Århus (Denmark) 24 June 1998. It will enter into force when sixteen Parties have ratified it.

The 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 evident in the action for global controls on POPs. 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 the protocol on POPs will be of value to the global negotiations and action in regions other than the UN/ECE region. It also believes that the ambitious regional protocol will help to drastically curb global fluxes of POPs.

CONVENTION

The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution is one of the main means of protecting our environment. Over the years, it has served as a bridge between different political systems and as a factor of stability in times of political change. It has substantially contributed to the development of international environmental law and created the essential framework for controlling and reducing the damage to human health and the environment of transboundary air pollution. It is a successful example of what can be achieved through intergovernmental cooperation.

The history of the Convention dates back to the 1960s, when scientists demonstrated the link between sulphur emissions in continental Europe and the acidification of Scandinavian lakes. The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm marked the start of active international cooperation in combating acidification. Between 1972 and 1977 several studies confirmed the hypothesis that air pollutants could travel several thousand kilometres before deposition and damage occurred. This also implied that cooperation at international level was necessary to solve problems such as acidification.

In response to these acute problems, a High-level Ministerial Meeting on the Protection of the Environment took place within the framework of the ECE in November 1979 in Geneva. It resulted in the signature of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution by 34 Governments and the European Community (EC). The Convention was the first international legally binding instrument to deal with problems of air pollution on a broad regional basis. Besides laying down the general principles of international cooperation for air pollution abatement, the Convention set up an institutional framework associating research and policy.

PROTOCOLS

The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, ratified as of 2 June 1998 by 43 Parties, has, since its entry into force in 1983, been extended by five specific protocols:

(i) The 1984 Protocol on Long-term Financing of the Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP), ratified by 37 Parties;

(ii) The 1985 Protocol on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions or their Transboundary Fluxes by at least 30 per cent, ratified by 21 Parties;

(iii) The 1988 Protocol concerning the Control of Nitrogen Oxides or their Transboundary Fluxes, ratified by 25 Parties;

(iv) The 1991 Protocol concerning the Control of Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds or their Transboundary Fluxes, signed by 23 and ratified by 17 Parties; and

(v) The 1994 Protocol on Further Reduction of Sulphur Emissions, signed by 28 Parties and ratified by 17.

In 1995, the Executive Body for the Convention started preparing three new protocols on the following pollutants:

Negotiations on POPs and heavy metals were concluded in February 1998, while work on NO_x is continuing.

SECRETARIAT

As stipulated in article 11 of the Convention, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe provides the secretariat for the Executive Body of the Convention. It does so within the ECE Environment and Human Settlements Division.