Improving the transmission of information for POPs

The GEF/UN Environment project Integrated Stockholm Convention toolkit to improve the transmission of information under Articles 7 and 15, officially launched at its inception workshop in October 2018, ended in June 2023.

The Stockholm Convention aims to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs). An adequate indicator of its successful implementation is the reduction and/or elimination of POPs releases around the globe.

The National Implementation Plan (NIP) and the National Reports submitted by the Parties to the Stockholm Convention are key data sources for evaluating the effectiveness of the Convention. The project’s overall objective is to facilitate the development, transmission, access, and use of data contained in National Implementation Plans (Article 7) and National Reports (Article 15) to improve the reporting rate.

The Executive summary of the report on the effectiveness evaluation of the Stockholm Convention on POPs acknowledges that a key challenge in undertaking this evaluation was the limited data available from national reports and NIPs” (...) “Quantitative information on the production of POPs reported by Parties is extremely limited, such that it is not possible to discuss trends. The low reporting rate by Parties has a direct impact on the capacity to evaluate the progress at the national and global levels, and on the analysis required under the Effectiveness Evaluation process.

Project outcomes and outputs

The project addresses some of the challenges the Parties face in complying with Articles 7 and 15 by providing them with an Integrated Electronic Toolkit.

The modular structure of the toolkit is harmonized with the structure of the national reporting and will help Parties organize and review their data to report to the COP in successive transmissions, fulfilling their obligations.

The Integrated Electronic Toolkit will further help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 12.4 “to achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment”.

The toolkit is currently being tested, and once fully implemented it will be made available online.

A Practical Guideline to incorporating gender dimension into the development of artisanal and small-scale gold mining National Action Plans in line with the Minamata Convention on Mercury, as well as of National Implementation Plans for the management of POPs in line with the Stockholm Convention. This Joint guidance to mainstream gender considerations into the sound management of chemicals will support countries to better understand the interplay between sex, gender, and the multifaceted harmful impacts associated with exposure to mercury and POPs.

The document is accompanied by 5 annexes: Annex 1 - Annexes 2&4 - Annexes 3&5

A Gap Analysis report describes the overlaps and gaps among Article 15 reporting requirements and the other reporting obligations under the Stockholm Convention (UPOPs, PCBs, POP-PBDEs, DDT and PFOS) and the information and data generated during the NIP development and/or update, as well as conclusions and recommendations on modalities to correlate the processes of reporting under Article 15 and other reporting obligations under the Stockholm Convention with the process of developing and updating the NIPs.

The Replication Strategy elements are meant to increase the uptake of the Integrated Electronic toolkit by other Parties, scaling up the project impacts.

eCourses

These self-paced courses are designed to assist Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and technicians involved in POPs inventory preparation.

eCourses eCourse - Guidance on preparing inventories of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD)

eCourse - Guidance on preparing inventories of short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs)

eCourse - Guidance on preparing inventories of PFOS, PFOA and PFOSF

eCourse - Guidance on preparing inventories of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)

Project pilot countries

Eight countries have been selected to implement a pilot of the project: Cambodia, Honduras, Kenya, Madagascar, Moldova, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia and Ukraine.

Through participation within this project, countries aim to strengthen and further build their capacity in meeting the Stockholm Convention’s obligations under Articles 7 and 15, to pilot test the Integrated Electronic Toolkit and to explore the links with other existent initiatives.

In-country activities took place in each of the project pilot countries. The reports developed by each country are made available in the following paragraphs.

Country Gap analysis report
Country Workshop report
Country Report on the POPs data collected
Toolkit report compiling potential linkages with the data management systems available at the national level, Brief description of the arrangements for the administration the integrated Article 7 and 15 electronic toolkit at the national level after the project ends

Cambodia country reports: 1-Gap analysis – 2-Workshop – 3-POPs data – 4-Toolkit
Existent national initiative: Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR).

Honduras country reports: 1-Gap analysis – 2-Workshop – 3-POPs data – 4-Toolkit
Existent initiatives: national Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) and PCBs database.

Kenya country reports: 1-Gap analysis – 2-Workshop – 3-POPs data – 4-Toolkit
Existent initiative: the environmental information systems to be established under African ChemObs GEF full-size project.

Madagascar country reports: 1-Gap analysis – 2-Workshop – 3-POPs data – 4-Toolkit
Existent initiative: the environmental information systems to be established under African ChemObs GEF full-size project.

Moldova country reports: 1-Gap analysis – 2-Workshop – 3-POPs data – 4-Toolkit
Existent initiatives: national Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) and the Waste Management Information System (WMIS).

Papua New Guinea country reports: 1-Gap analysis – 2-Workshop – 3-POPs data – 4-Toolkit
Existing initiative: national datasets for environmental information (Inform project)

Saint Lucia country reports: 1-Gap analysis – 2-Workshop – 3-POPs data – 4-Toolkit
Existing initiative: information management system to be established under the on-going full-sized GEF project Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for POPs in the Caribbean.

Events where the projects outcomes and outputs were disseminated

Workshop to support inventory development and priority setting in developing and updating of National Implementation Plans (NIPs) under the Stockholm Convention (2018, Pretoria, South Africa)

Workshop to support inventory development and priority setting in developing and updating of National Implementation Plans (NIPs) under the Stockholm Convention (2018, São Paulo, Brazil)

Regional Training Workshop on the Article 15 reporting requirements under the Stockholm Convention (2020, Trinidad and Tobago)

Regional capacity-building workshop to improve the development, update and submission of National Implementation Plans (NIPs) and National Reports under the Stockholm Convention for Asia and Pacific Region, (Online May 17-18 2022)

UNEP side-event: From data to action: Informed decision-making for Stockholm Convention implementation, during Stockholm Convention COP-10 (Geneva, Switzerland, 7 June 2022)

Workshop on developing, reviewing, and updating national implementation plans (NIPs) under the Stockholm Convention (Pretoria, South Africa, 13-15 September 2022)

Workshop on developing, reviewing, and updating national implementation plans (NIPs) under the Stockholm Convention (Jakarta, Indonesia, 27-29 September 2022)

Regional Webinar on Capacity building and information exchange on the general considerations for setting up national mechanisms for NIP development/update and reporting for Latin America and Caribbean region (Online, 29 September 2022)

Workshop on “From Science to Action” for the BRS and industrial chemicals guidance for the Stockholm Convention (Barcelona, Spain, 17-20 October 2022)

Webinar for the project “Integrated SC toolkit to improve the transmission of information under Articles 07 and 15” for Africa region (Online, 16 -17 November 2022)

Outputs Validation Workshop and third Steering Committee Meeting of the project “Integrated SC toolkit to improve the transmission of information under Articles 07 and 15” (Geneva, 25 May 2023)