Countries have ratified the Stockholm Convention, developed National Implementation Plans (NIPs) and received financial support to advance these NIPs. In addition, countries are obliged to report about their efforts to implement the Convention to the Conference of the Parties as well as to relevant donors. To ensure a meaningful impact that reduces/eliminates POPs exposure, NGOs need to participate in and monitor these efforts.
Throughout 2018 eight IPEN Participating Organisations (POs) undertook projects to investigate the National Implementation Plans (NIPs) and assess whether their country was making progress in addressing POPs issues as required under the Stockholm Convention (SC). The task required IPEN POs to engage with their Stockholm Convention National Focal Points, government agencies implementing POPs activities and industries with POPs management responsibilities to determine if priority POPs problems such as stockpiles destruction, use phase-out, contaminated sites and inventory development were being addressed. The countries where this assessment was undertaken included Argentina, India, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Nepal, Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia. In most cases the activities included:
• Assessment of the National Implementation Plan including updates for new POPs;
• Community awareness raising through media, publication of the reports, brochures etc;
• Assessment of national legal frameworks for POPs;
• Identification of barriers to implementation of the Convention requirements;
• Assessment of POPs emissions, releases, stockpiles and hotspots
• Destruction capacity for POPs;
• Analytical capacity for POPs monitoring.
One of the important outcomes of the projects was the ability of IPEN POs to engage directly with national government agency personnel tasked with managing national implementation plans through formal committees, meetings and awareness raising workshops. This interaction strengthened working connections and understanding between POs and government agencies and allowed for valuable input from IPEN POs into the mechanisms determining national priorities for action on POPs.
Please find a summary of the projects here.
Argentina- report completed by Taller Ecologista
India-report completed by Toxics Link
Kazakhstan- report completed by Greenwomen Public Association / Environmental News Agency
Macedonia- report completed by Ecosvest
Nepal- report completed by Center for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED)
Senegal- report completed by Pesticide Action Network Senegal
Tanzania- report completed by AGENDA for Environment and Responsible Development
Tunisia- report completed by Association d'Education Environnementale pour la Future Génération (AEEFG)
Earlier country situation reports were carried out as part of IPEN's International POPs Elimination Project, which took place between 2004 and 2007.
