Explainer Series: The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Introduction

On the 22nd of May, 2001 the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (hereinafter referred to as the Stockholm Convention or the Convention), was adopted at the Conference of Plenipotentiaries at Stockholm, Sweden. In an attempt to demystify the Convention, this article will delve into a brief discussion of what the Convention addresses, and how it functions.

Article 1 of the Convention articulates its objective:

Mindful of the precautionary approach as set forth in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the objective of this Convention is to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants.

To understand the essence of the Convention and the importance of its objective of protecting human health and the environment specifically from Persistent Organic Pollutants (“POPs”), we must first understand what POPs are.

Persistent Organic Pollutants - What are they and why are they dangerous?

POPs are toxic chemicals that are a result of concerted manufacturing and unintentional production. Some of their properties are:

Persistent: POPs are insoluble in water. This makes them easily transportable (through air, water, and soil) and consumable since they do not break-down in water. They are fat-soluble instead. This means that upon consumption by fauna, they dissolve in the fat tissues and remain there for extremely long periods of time.

Organic: POPs are carbon-based chemicals. This makes them organic in nature, and hence easily bio accumulative. This means that as nature’s food chain progresses and every animal that has consumed POPs becomes prey to another, the POPs get transferred and accumulate in the hunting animal’s fat tissues. This eventually leads to biomagnification wherein the concentration of the toxic chemical becomes high enough to be fatal.

Pollutant: POPs are pollutants, which refer to any substance that is part of pollution and causes harm to the environment in which it is introduced.

To understand the gravity of the issue, here are a few instances of POPs harming the environment: DDT is a type of POP (widely used but also banned under the Convention) which was noted to cause shell-thinning with Golden and Bald Eagles, and White Pelicans. Due to this thinning effect, these birds ended up having fewer living offspring, because their egg shell broke prematurely. Apart from this, there has also been a record of mass deaths of Robins due to bioaccumulation and biomagnification of DDT. In humans, POPs are known to cause endocrine disruption. This further causes dysfunction of the reproductive system and the immune system and even increases the risk of cancer.

The Convention at a Glance

The Convention is a universal, legally binding treaty which, when signed and ratified, obligates the party nations to take steps towards reduction and even utter prohibition of production and usage of certain POPs. Understandably, with conventions that necessitate drastic steps, setting a compliance procedure can work against the development of Nations. To avoid setting such stringent standards through pre-decided punishments, the Convention, through Article 17, stipulates that the Conference of Parties shall develop and approve standards of non-compliance and consequences of the same.

Since its adoption, 184 countries have signed and become parties to the Convention, even though only 152 have ratified it as of now. The difference between signing a treaty and ratifying it is that signing confirms intention to accept the treaty while ratification amounts to acceptance of the obligations. Article 25 of the Convention talks about “Ratification, acceptance, approval or accession” and discusses procedural details of the same. Party nations are given an option to ratify or access to it without a time-boundary. India, for example, ratified the Convention in 2006 after signing as a party in 2004. Coming to the subject-matter, the Convention initially listed 12 POPs that needed to be managed (restricted to varying degrees), and called them the dirty-dozen. However, since the first amendment in 2009, sixteen more POPs have been added to the list taking the total up to twenty-eight POPs. It is a reasonable deduction that upon adding new POPs to the list, nations unprepared to restrict their usage may seek exemption to a certain degree - this is addressed through Article 4 which establishes a register for specific exemptions.

The convention, through Annexures A, B and C, provides lists of POPs that must be eliminated, reduced and minimised respectively. Articles 3 and 5 stipulate measures that must be taken to eliminate or reduce releases from “intentional” and “unintentional” production and use of POPs. These measures aren’t methodologically specific since it would be impossible for all Nations to follow one action plan. Rather, they are procedurally specific in the way of mandating action plans and developmental goals that a nation must establish. Further, since POPs are most harmful when accumulated, stockpile management is an important aspect that the Convention addresses through Article 6. Clause (1)(d) of the article suggests appropriate measures and clause (2) mandates cooperation with bodies of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

Implementation of the Convention

Implementation is just as important as the addressal of the subject-matter of the Convention. To ensure proper implementation, just like the aforementioned Basel Convention and the Rotterdam Convention, the Stockholm Convention also followed a method of adopting a programme of work and assigning budget through the Conference of Parties. This programme of work must be evaluated from time to time, and for this, Article 16 mandates the evaluation of effectiveness of the Convention by considering global POP levels - under production and from stockpiles. To understand the evaluation, one can look at the elaborate Global Monitoring Plan.

The implementation of the Convention is aided by its global, national, and local level partners. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) implements the Stockholm Convention in collaboration with the Secretariat. The Convention has also established regional and subregional centers across the world, which are capable of providing assistance and guidance. In India, it is called the Stockholm Convention Regional Centre for Capacity-building and the Transfer of Technology (SCRC India), which is at Nagpur, Maharashtra.

Auxiliary: The Indian Context

Upon ratifying the Convention in 2006, India held an “opt-out” position as provided for under Article 25(4), described by the Press Information Bureau. This meant for further amendments, India would be held obliged only after further ratification. In 2020, India further ratified seven POPs. While this was done in pursuance of India’s “commitment towards providing [a] safe environment and addressing human health risks”, part of the reason was also to gain access to the Global Environment Facility (“GEF”) funding. GE is entrusted with managing the financial mechanisms of the Convention under Article 14. The GEF provides aid to developing nations and nations whose economies are in transit in order to aid the implementation of the Convention.

Conclusion

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2021. Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary for the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, spoke about how the initial struggles in negotiations with UNEP led to the adoption of the Convention, and how the establishment of regional centers helped in strengthening it. Bo Wallstrom, a former Senior Scientist Advisor at the Stockholm Convention, also spoke in the Convention’s “20 Voices for 20 Years” series where he recited his presence in an international experts’ meeting which had successfully completed its task in two meetings instead of three, indicating the effectiveness of the Convention. The Convention has been built around a very tough purpose of identifying specific, harmful chemicals that humans produce, and subsequently phasing them out and eventually completely relinquishing them. Working, not merely at a national but also a complicated, politics-ridden global level, the Convention has successfully made parties of almost all the countries across the world, and has facilitated the ban of use and production of many POPs. It is a Convention that can be deemed successful, and one that prospectively may bring true change to the status of the environment.

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