Global monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in biota, water and sediments: its role in screening for unregulated POPs, in compiling time trends of regulated POPs under the Stockholm Convention (SC) and their relevance for biodiversity in a changing climate

Abstract

This paper considers elements of the dynamic process of production dispersal and monitoring of persistent organic pollutants in the environment that has unfolded over the past 100 years. The interactions between science, industry, policy making and public health have taken many different forms in different parts of the world over time. The current state of affairs of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the global environment is only partially understood and in flux because the components act in a distributed and asynchronous manner. We argue that the work under the Stockholm Convention (SC) since 2004 can be seen as synthesis of what has been done so far and a blueprint of what challenges lie ahead. The framework of UNEP, with the invaluable help of the Secretariat, has strung together over two decades a global network of scientists, indigenous groups, policy makers and other stakeholders interacting through meetings, documents and decisions, this effort has yielded an open, transparent and reliable method of work and a large repository of publicly available technical and scientific information. In this paper we consider in some detail the methods and the outcomes for screening substances of new potential concern, the methods and outcomes of monitoring trends in the context of effectiveness evaluation of the SC and the urgent need to converge in concept and quantification with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC).