Asia POPs Monitor
Issue 23, January 2008
Follow-up of COP3 of the Stockholm Convention
Follow-up actions and information are now solicited by the Stockholm Convention Secretariat, which are available on the Stockholm Convention website. Among 12 requests are:
Request 3-1 Invites Parties and others to provide to the Secretariat comments
on their experience
in implementing the revised draft guidelines on best available techniques
and
provisional guidance on best environmental practices
Request 4 Invites Parties, States not party to the Convention, intergovernmental
organizations
and non-governmental organizations and industry to generate relevant data
and
information on Annex C chemicals, as identified in the Toolkit review and
updating
process and provide such data and information to the Secretariat;
Request 5-3 Invites Parties and others to provide comments based on their
experience in using
draft guidance on social and economic assessment for the development and
the
implementation of persistent organic pollutant national implementation plans
on how
to improve its usefulness
Request 6 Invites Parties, relevant international organizations and non-governmental
organizations to provide information on their experiences in implementing
the
guidance on technical assistance and transfer of technology adopted by the
Conference of the Parties in decision SC-1/15
Request 7 Invites, in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 13
of the Convention,
developed country Parties, other Parties and other possible sources, including
relevant
funding institutions and the private sectors to provide information on ways
in which
they can support the Convention
Please visit the
Stockholm Convention website for more details.
UNIDO BAT/BEP (Best Available Technology and Best Environmental Practice)
Regional BAT and BEP Forum for East and South East Asia (ESEA) countries
to Promote Strategies to Reduce or Eliminate Unintentionally Produced POPs
from Industry was held on 2-5 October 2007. UNU is supporting this Forum
in technical areas of sampling and analysis.
Please visit the UNIDO website
for more details.
POPs Focal Area Strategy and Strategic Programming for GEF 4 (2007-2010)
Approved by the GEF Council in September 2007, the GEF-4 strategy and its
program will be in operation. It will shift from single project interventions
to more programmatic focuses by prioritizing issues of global environmental
concern and linking projects for stronger impacts. Sound chemical management
will be one of such focuses. Governmental and business sector capacities
built on under the POPs and Ozone Depletion focal areas of GEF need to be
generalized into other chemical management sector of developing countries.
Under GEF-4, NIP implementation will be more supported, and "projects
addressing unintentionally produced POPs are expected to be mostly of a
planning and strategy development nature under GEF-4." More importantly
for academic institutes, a limited number of targeted research projects
will be supported such as "the development/promotion of cost-effective
techniques for the rapid assessment of POPs concentrations; development
of methodologies for exposure assessment in susceptible populations; testing
and demonstrating methodologies and techniques to identify and address contaminated
sites related to stockpiles and wastes where this could generate significant
cost-savings; and improvement in methods to estimate POPs releases."
Please visit the
GEF website for more details.
UNU presented its project results at Dioxin 2007 (abstract is now available)
The 27th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants
(Dioxin 2007) was held between 2-7 September 2007, in Tokyo. UNU presented
its project results between 2002-2006 on monitoring POPs in water, sediment,
and biota samples.
UNU Abstract (197KB)
Dioxin Conference Website
(external link)
Upcoming Events
January 22nd – 26th, 2008, Tiruchirappalli, India (Registration Closed)
National Level Training Workshop On Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry
(GC-MS) in Environmental Analysis (This event is hosted by Bharathidasan
University, the Indian Project Partner)
March 2008, Hadano, Kanagawa, Japan (Closed Event)
UNU Training on POPs analysis in Squid
November 2008, Tokyo, Japan
UNU Conference (The end of the 4th phase)
Opportunities at UNU
UNU International Course 2008: The application deadline is 10 January 2008.
Event Report
UNU Symposium on POPs: Global Transport, Best Environmental Practice, and
Risk Perception was co-organized with the Indonesian Ministry of Environment
in Jakarta on 14 November 2007 (Supported by Shimadzu Co. and Asia-Pacific
Network). More than 160 people attended from governments, academic institutues
and business sectors, and very active discussions followed research and
policy presentations given by invited international and Indonesian speakers.
Presentation
slides are available here.
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