Frontier India Current Affairs

Written on May 7, 2008 – 3:44 pm | by FICA |

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted in the Conference of Plenipotentiaries held at Stockholm on 22-23 May, 2001. It focuses on reducing and eliminating the production /use and release of 12 specific chemicals. They include aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) , dioxins and furans. The Stockholm Convention came into force in India on April 13, 2006; India had signed it on 14 May 2002.

As per Article – 7, Parties to the Stockholm Convention are required to develop National Implementation Plans (NIPs) to demonstrate how their obligations to the Convention will be addressed. India recognizes its obligation, under Article 7 of the Convention, to develop and submit NIP to the Conference of Parties (COP) .

The GEF has sanctioned US$ 3,074,700 for India’s National Implementation Plan (NIP) project with a project duration of two years. The project document was signed on 8th November, 2007 by GEF operational Focal Point in India. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) will act as the GEF Executing Agency. The full project document will present a National Implementation Plan for India as required by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). UNIDO is also responsible for the overall management of the project and its funds. Consultations and collaboration with WHO, FAO, the GEF Secretariat will be maintained through UNIDO and also directly through their local representatives.

Aim of the Project

The project will develop the National Implementation Plan for India in keeping with the Stockholm Convention. To stand by this commitment, the project will:

 establish inventories or otherwise develop strategies to establish inventories on the production, use, trade, stockpiles and wastes of, and sites contaminated by, the chemicals listed in the Annexures of the Convention and existing in India;

 develop strategies and action plans for the reduction and elimination of the chemicals listed in Annexures of the Convention and existing in India;

 assess infrastructure capacity and propose management options, including institutional arrangements, regulatory frameworks, and requirements for capacity building, raising stakeholders and public awareness and research and development, to ensure the effective and sustainable implementation of the proposed strategies and action plans and thus facilitate India’s preparedness for compliance with the Convention;

 formulate and gain stakeholder endorsement for a NIP, including priorities and objectives with the aim of estimating the total costs and the incremental costs likely to be incurred for introduction into development and assistance planning;

 build sustainable capacity sufficient to prepare the NIP and its component inventories, strategies and action plans and to fulfill ongoing reporting requirements of the Convention and;

 develop and demonstrate methodologies representing practical and feasible approaches to priority actions required by India in meeting its Convention obligations.

Long-term Objectives

The goal of this project is to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants – the principal objective of the Convention. The purpose of the project is to enable India to take the first steps towards implementation of the Convention.

Specific Objectives

To achieve the requisite outputs, the activities of the project have been grouped into a series of work packages each focused on a specific objective contributing to the planned outcomes. These Objectives are :-

Convention implementation infrastructure at National and State levels; Measures in relation to management of POP pesticides including DDT, the only POP pesticide currently being produced and used in India;

Measures in relation to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs);

Measures in relation to unintentionally produced POPs;

Measures in relation to wastes and contaminated sites and;

Project management and monitoring & evaluation.

Various institutions/organizations have been engaged to undertake the various designated activities under the project.

Accordingly, the Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL)will carry on the work regarding Measures in relation to management of POP pesticides including DDT. The Central Power Research Institute (CPRI ), Bangalore will work on Measures in relation to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Measures in relation to unintentionally produced POPs have been assigned to National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, The National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science Regional Research Laboratory, Trivandrum and Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur will also take care of Measures in relation to wastes and contaminated sites. For Convention Implementation Infrastructure at National and State levels and objective and project management as well as monitoring evaluation, UNIDO would provide the support services.

An Inception Workshop for the development of a National Implementation Plan of Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) is being held in New Delhi today. It will be a first step to prepare implementation mechanism in India.

Discussions at Workshop will be held on different topics such as Alternatives to POPs Pesticides, Implementation mechanism of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project Development in India, Work plan of the project, Inventory of intentionally produced POP’s Pesticides including DDT, PCBs, Dioxin, furans in air, water, land, waste, stock and regulatory mechanism and infrastructure capacity.

The writer Smt. Kalpana Palkhiwala is the Asstt. Director(Media & Communication), PIB.