41st GEF Council

Meeting from 8-10 November, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council approved its work programme for the next year and initiated the search for a new CEO. The work programme includes 40 project concepts and nine programmatic approaches amounting to US$516.40 million, including 11 for the biodiversity focal area, eight on climate change, two on international waters, 23 on land degradation, and five on persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
Among administrative decisions, the Council evaluated administrative fees, expenses and project management costs and decided to establish a group of donors and recipients to prepare a proposal to reduce the total cost of the fee structure of GEF projects for the next Council meeting. The Council also approved minimum standards on environmental and social safeguards for GEF Agencies.

Members also discussed strengthening relationships with other conventions and adopted a decision asking the Secretariat to organize a meeting of biodiversity-related conventions with the Secretariat of CBD to facilitate the coordination of their priorities for inclusion in the GEF-6 programming strategy.

Chair's Summary
41st GEF Council Meeting Website

POPRC-7 Outcomes

The 7th meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention adopted 12 decisions on, inter alia:
- advancing chlorinated naphthalenes and hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD) to the risk profile stage;
- recommending that parties consider listing hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) in Annexes A, B, and/or C of the Convention;
- effective participation in the Committee’s work;
- the assessment of alternatives to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in open applications, DDT, and endosulfan; and
- the implications of climate change on POPs.

The Committee also established nine intersessional working groups to address:
- HBCD;
- HCBD;
- chlorinated naphthalenes;
- pentachlorophenol (PCP) and its salts and esters;
- alternatives to endosulfan and DDT;
- alternatives to PFOS in open applications;
- the draft risk profile on short-chained chlorinated paraffins;
- consideration of toxic interactions; and
- the impact of climate change on the Committee’s work.

These working groups will report back at POPRC-8, which is scheduled for October 2012.

IISD-RS Coverage

Stockholm Convention: COP-5 Results

COP-5 to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) convened from 25-29 April in Geneva (Switzerland) concluding with an agreement to add endosulfan to Annex A of the Convention and phase out its use. This decision brings the total number of chemicals listed by the Stockholm Convention to 22. Delegates also considered several reports on activities within the Convention’s mandate and adopted over 30 decisions.

IISD reported that a decision on synergies among the Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam Conventions welcomes the establishment of the Executive Secretary of the three conventions, but regrets that the position was not appointed with urgency. It authorizes the Executive Secretary to determine the staffing levels, numbers and structure of the secretariats in a flexible manner within a budget ceiling, and requests him to propose, in consultation with the Bureau, the organization of the secretariats by 31 December 2011, to be implemented by 31 December 2012. It further decides that the COPs of the three conventions should be held in a coordinated manner, approves the proposed cross-cutting and joint activities for inclusion in the programmes of work of the three secretariats for 2012-13, and decides to convene in 2013 an extraordinary joint meeting of the COPs.

COP-Website

POPS: COP-5

COP-5 of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) convened from 25-29 April in Geneva (Switzerland). Among the 29 decisions, delegates adopted a decision on synergies among the Stockholm, Basel and Rotterdam Conventions and concluded with an agreement to add endosulfan to Annex A of the Convention and phase out its use. 

Conference website with link to advance meeting report inlcluding COP Decisions

Stockholm Convention: Climate Change and POPS

The Stockholm Convention Secretariat, in conjunction withthe Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme has released a publication titled “Climate Change and POPs: Predicting the Impacts.” Providing an overview of the complex inter linkages between climate and POPs, the report predicts signi

ficant climate-induced changes in relation to future releases of POPs into the environment, their long-range transport and environmental fate, and human and environmental exposure, subsequently leading to higher health risks for both human populations and the environment. The report also addresses the synergies between the climate change and POPs policy agendas and identifies areas of uncertainty and existing gaps in data, information and knowledge.