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Fatoumata Keita-Ouane
Fatoumata Keita-Ouane
Topic: Identification and Monitoring of POPs in the Stockholm Convention
Fatoumata Keita-Ouane is a scientist who holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and an advanced degree in Toxicology from the “Université Catholique de Louvain”, Belgium. She is Senior Scientific A...
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Number of questions: [2]
Posted on 23/04/2007 05:20:28
What strategies do you propose for educating policy-makers in your area of specialization?
Centre for Environment Education (from India)


Dear Madam/Sir,

Thank you for your question. Education and awareness raising are key to the implementation of Stockholm Convention and Article 10 of the Convention has been devoted to public information, awareness and education. We believe that early involvement of decision-makers in activities under Article 10 is essential for achieving the goals of the Convention. The strategies to be considered include activities by the Convention Secretariat, by other Intergovernmental organizations and last but not least, we think we should engage research institutions to promote education and knowledge dissemination. In relations to the technical and scientific aspects of the Convention, we organize several capacity building and awareness raising activities for Stockholm Convention focal points and national experts to promote for example understanding of best available techniques and best environmental practices for reducing or eliminating the release of POPs, environmentally sound disposal of POPs waste, regional approaches for environmental monitoring of POPs, etc… We also develop various guidance documents to assist decision makers in addressing the many facets of POPs management. As we are still a very young secretariat, our activities are under construction and we do not yet have full documentation on everything that is planned. You can however find more information on our web at http://www.pops.int and I invite you to contact us again if you have more specific questions.

Best regards
Fatoumata

Posted on 22/04/2007 20:30:13
Hello Madam. I am Mr. Shailand from Mauritius. Well, I have a keen interest for environmental issues. I am familiar with the POPs issue and the Stockholm Convention and first learnt about these when I was a University student. As a working professional, I have participated in meetings and events regarding the National Implementation Plan (NIP) for Enabling Activities for the Stockholm Convention on POPs in Mauritius.
However, i find that developing, and small countries may not be able to address the issue entirely, e.g. monitoring needs qualified and skilled personnel as well as facilities such as lab. equipment and funds... So how will these countries respond, bearing in mind, that they can be a sink for various POPs ? What sort of aid and expertise exist from the UN and its bodies for these countries?
Lastly, i'd like to have your point of view onto what extent waste incinerators are safe for the SIDS (Small Islands Developing States) ? Thank you.
Kind Regards.
Shailand.
shailand (from Mauritius)
Dear Shailand,

Thank you for raising this important question. Assisting developing countries and small countries to acquire the capacities needed for the implementation of the Convention is an important concern of the Stockholm Convention and its Secretariat. The Convention text has several provisions requesting countries with resources and knowledge to assist others in their implementation effort. Such assistance will be supported through, both, bilateral arrangements between countries and the intervention of the financial mechanism of the Convention where parties can obtain funding to implement their action plans and projects. We should however keep in mind the need for prioritization of the actions, and the desirability of implementing some activities at regional level and not in each individual Party. The issues of monitoring and laboratory facilities fall in this latter category of activities that should be tackled at regional level. Engaging in costly laboratory facilities construction and environmental monitoring in each country will neither be cost effective, nor sustainable. The regional approach is therefore being proposed for discussion at the third Conference of the Parties scheduled for 30 April- 4 May 2007 in Dakar Senegal. If this approach is adopted, regional capacity strengthening will be organized to endow every region with sufficient capacity to develop regional monitoring data for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Convention under its Article 16.

Regarding your last question, burning of waste has the potential for comparatively high unintentional formation and release of POPs to the environment. Waste incinerators are therefore listed as Part II source categories in Annex C of the Stockholm Convention. The application of best available techniques and best environmental practices to these sources should take into consideration environmentally sound waste management practices. In general, a society should give careful consideration to the full range of waste management options before reaching a decision to make a large-scale investment in the construction of incinerators. There are basic requirements for environmentally sound operation of an incinerator and you can find full coverage of it in the BAT and BEP guidelines available on the convention web site at: http://www.pops.int/documents/meetings/cop_3/meetingdocs/inf4/zINF4%20advance.pdf

Best regards
Fatoumata

    
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