Summary
On Thursday, the thirteenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-13) met in a brief plenary session in the morning, and then convened in contact groups throughout the day.
In the morning, POPRC-13 plenary heard the final report from dicofol contact group Chair Marcus Richards (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), who announced that the group had finalized its work and had prepared a draft decision. POPRC-13 Chair Maria Delvin (Sweden) informed the Committee that the draft decision would be discussed in plenary on Friday.
Plenary was then suspended to allow the contact groups on PFHxS and PFOA to continue their work.
The contact group discussing PFHxS, chaired by Jack Holland (Australia), met thereafter and finalized consideration of the draft decision and its annex, and reached consensus that PFHxS meets the screening criteria specified in Annex D. A POPRC members-only drafting group then met to prepare a conference room paper to be discussed in plenary on Friday.
The PFOA contact group, chaired by Rameshwar Adhikari (Nepal) and facilitated by POPRC-13 Chair Delvin, met in the late morning and continued to work all day and into the night. In their discussions on the draft risk management evaluation, the group focused on evaluation of uses and production of short-chain fluorinated alternatives, considering, nter alia, fire-fighting foams, medical devices and unintentional releases.
During the lunch break, delegates attended a side-event entitled “From science to action: evolution of the science associated with understanding and identifying PBTs (Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic) and POPs,” presented by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) and the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions Secretariat.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web highlights from POPRC-13. In addition IISD Reporting Services has produced a summary and analysis report which is available in HTML and PDF.
(L-R) Trine Celius and Christel Moræus Olsen, Norway
(L-R) Mantoa Sekota, Lesotho, and Katinka van der Jagt, Luxembourg
Dicofol Contact Group Chair Marcus Richards, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
(L-R) Katinka van der Jagt, Luxembourg, and POPRC-13 Chair Delvin
Delegates during the morning plenary