Geneva, 3 May 2011 -
Representatives from 127 Governments meeting
in Geneva last week agreed to add endosulfan
to the United Nations' list of persistent
organic pollutants to be eliminated worldwide.
The action puts the widely-used pesticide
on course for elimination from the global
market by 2012.
The decision was among
more than 30 measures taken by Parties to
the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs) to boost global action
against POPs.
The Parties agreed to
list endosulfan in Annex A to the Convention,
with specific exemptions. When the amendment
to the Annex A enters into force in one
year, endosulfan will become the 22nd POP
to be listed under the Convention.
A Party may extend the
phase out period of the pesticide by five
years but only for a small number uses.
"The conference
recognized that financial and technical
support is required to facilitate the replacement
of the use of endosulfan in developing countries
and countries with economies in transition,"
said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP
Executive Director Achim Steiner.
"In establishing
a consultative process on finance for the
chemicals and waste conventions, UNEP has
responded to the need of those countries
by seeking to make the sound management
of hazardous chemicals a development priority
of the green economy in which all countries
can fully and fairly participate,"
he added.
Endosulfan is an organochlorine
insecticide used in crops worldwide. It
is mainly used on cotton, coffee and tea.
Endosulfan can act as an endocrine disruptor,
causing reproductive and developmental damage
in both animals and humans
"New POPs present
new challenges, as we are usually dealing
with chemicals that are still widely used
commercially," said Jim Willis, the
newly appointed Executive Secretary of the
Basel, Stockholm, and UNEP-part of the Rotterdam
Convention Secretariats. "Parties have
demonstrated that they can find creative
solutions to speed the elimination of POPs
and protect environment and human health
from these dangerous chemicals."
The conference evaluated
the continued need for DDT for disease vector
control to combat mosquitoes carrying the
deadly malaria parasite. On the basis of
available scientific, technical, environmental
and economic information, it saw a continued
need to use DDT while effective alternatives
were being sought and implemented by an
increasing number of countries.
"Despite all efforts,
malaria remains one of the world's tragedies
with almost a million fatalities every year.
All means are needed to combat this vector,"
said Victoria Mupwaya, director of the Environmental
Council of Zambia.
The first assembly of
the Global Alliance for alternatives to
DDT, held on 26 April 2011, concurred with
the WHO findings. Although there is no deadline
for the elimination of DDT, the goal of
the Alliance is to reduce reliance on DDT
for disease vector control by strengthening
countries capacities to deploy safer alternatives.
The conference requested
UNEP to take over administration of the
Global Alliance, in collaboration with the
World Health Organization. UNEP was also
requested to take over the PCB Elimination
Network.
Monique Barbut, chief
executive officer of the Global Environment
Facility (GEF), speaking at the "Finance
Forum for Sustainable Solutions" on
the opening day of the conference, announced
the GEF would provide US$ 250,000 in support
to countries to update their national implementation
plans in response to the adoption of new
POPs to the Convention. In total, the GEF
has in recent years funded more than US$
1 billion to address implementation of hazardous
chemicals and waste cluster agreements.
Seven new Stockholm
Convention regional centres were endorsed
by the conference: in Algeria, Kenya, India,
Iran, Senegal, South Africa and the Russian
Federation. The Russian region centre is
conditional on the Russian Federation's
ratification of the Convention.
Karel Blaha (Czech Republic)
was elected president of the conference
on the opening day. Osvaldo Alvarez (Chile)
was elected to serve as president of the
6th meeting of the conference, to be held
in May 2013.
Over 700 participants
took part in the conference, which was held
from 25 to 29 April 2011. Under the theme,
Stockholm at 10: Chemical Challenges, Sustainable
Solutions, the conference marked the 10th
anniversary of the adoption of the Convention
in 2001.
+ More
World Environment Day
blogging competition - enter now!
Calling all environmental
bloggers! United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and TreeHugger have joined forces
to launch a blogging competition for World
Environment Day 2011 - and there's less
than a week left to enter!
The winner will receive
an all-expenses-paid trip to India - the
host country for World Environment Day (WED)
- to blog on major WED events and celebrations
for both the UNEP and TreeHugger websites.
Flights, accommodation,
visa costs, insurance, and travel within
India to WED events will all be covered.
Entering is easy. Write
a blog post of between 400 and 600 words
along the theme of "Forests: Nature
at Your Service" that will inspire
people to take action on World Environment
Day. The focus of the blog post should be
on any of the many services provided by
forests, such as water, food, medicine,
clean air, habitats for plants and animals,
products like rubber and timber or tourism.
All posts must link
to www.unep.org/wed , www.treehugger.com
and include a World Environment Day logo
or website banner
Then, visit and the
UNEP Facebook page facebook.unep.org and
leave a message to tell us that you've entered,
along with a link to your blog post.
Entries must be received
by 10 May 2011.
After winning last year's
competition, US blogger Tuesday Phillips
travelled to Rwanda to cover the country's
WED celebrations.
"Winning the competition
was not only a tremendous honor, but a wonderful
opportunity", says Tuesday. "I
had the opportunity to participate and report
on daily press conferences, plant trees
alongside thousands of locals for the Billion
Tree Campaign, attend the World Environment
Day event at the base of the Virunga Mountains,
and meet public figures such as the Rwandan
Ambassador of Environment and Lands and
actor Don Cheadle. Since my visit, I have
continued my passion for the environment
through my eco-blog, ecolutionist, as well
as contribute as a freelance writer on the
web and for local newspapers and magazines."
