The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is a global treaty aimed to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically and accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife. Given their long range transport, no single government acting alone can protect its citizens or its environment from POPs. In response, the Stockholm Convention requires Parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment. The Convention is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme and based in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Stockholm Convention classifies the POP's under five annexes:
Annex A (Elimination): Parties must take measures to eliminate the production and use of the chemicals listed under Annex A.
Annex B (Reduction): Parties must take measures to restrict the production and use of the chemicals listed under Annex B.
Annex C (Unintentional production): Parties must take measures to reduce the unintentional releases of chemicals listed under Annex C with the goal of continuing minimization and, where feasible, ultimate elimination.
Annex D (Chemical proposed for listing under convention): Amy Party may submit proposal for listing a new chemical in Annex A, B, or C of the Convention. The POPs Review Committee evaluates the proposals and makes recommendation to the Conference of the Parties on such listing.
Annex E (Information requirements for the risk profile): The purpose of the review is to evaluate whether the chemical is likely, as a result of its long-range environmental transport, to lead to significant adverse human health and/or environmental effects, such that global action is warranted. For this purpose, a risk profile shall be developed that further elaborates on, and evaluates, the information referred to in Annex D.
Annex F (Information on socio-economic considerations): An evaluation should be undertaken regarding possible control measures for chemicals under consideration for inclusion in this Convention, encompassing the full range of options, including management and elimination.
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