SUMMARY- IPEN SA and SEA POs meeting

The IPEN participating organizations in South Asia and Southeast & East Asia attended the international conferences on EDC Free Asia II and Addressing ASGM Concerns for a Safe Asia conducted last January 23-24, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea. The EDC Free Asia II conference aimed at sharing the results of the project on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) with the participation of the IPEN POs in South, Southeast, and East Asia, discuss solutions, campaign strategies and action points to promote the study results and use them in the POs’ work in their respective countries. The study tested 362 products for the presence of parabens and triclosan. It was conducted in coordination with twelve IPEN POs in eight countries who conducted product surveys and are further organizing stakeholder dialogues and other communication and outreach activities. The conference on Addressing ASGM Concerns for a Safe Asia aimed to discuss the exposure status of mercury in ASGM areas in Southeast Asia based on the research findings of the Mercury Free Asia project and explore solutions to address the mercury issues at the national and regional levels. The conferences were co-organized by the Wonjin Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health (WIOEH), Korea Financial Industry Foundation (KFIF), and IPEN regional hubs in South Asia and Southeast and East Asia.

During the international EDC Free Asia conference, IPEN South Asia and Southeast & East Asia POs organized a regional meeting to strengthen the regional collaboration. The objective of this meeting was to understand PO expectations and needs and to discuss strategies to strengthen regional positions during global policy events. The meeting was attended by 25 IPEN POs (17 Female and 8 male). The POs actively engaged in the discussion and emphasized on the need for more collaborative efforts in terms of development of regional data, organizing regional campaigns, regional meetings, capacity building programmes and communications support. The IPEN SA and SEA hubs are now working towards actions to address the needs of the POs highlighted during the discussion.