Highlights and images for 21 September 2018

Italy

Summary


POPRC Chair Estefânia Gastaldello Moreira, Brazil, gaveled the meeting to a close at 4:11 pm.

On the final day of the fourteenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-14), delegates gathered in plenary to address the outstanding items on the Committee’s agenda.The Committee adopted three decisions on industrial chemicals, including on:

  • a risk profile on perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PHFxS), its salts, and related compounds, which concludes that these substances are likely, as a result of long-range environmental transport, to lead to significant adverse effects on human health and the environment such that global action is warranted;
  • a decision to recommend listing pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts, and related compounds in Annex A of the Convention with specific exemptions for some uses, including fire-fighting foams; and
  • and a decision on perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts, and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF) that, inter alia, recommends to the COP that some uses of this chemical permitted by the Convention should be eliminated, due to the availability of safer alternatives for these applications.

After brief concluding remarks by POPRC Chair Estefania Gastaldello Moreira (Brazil) in which she thanked participants for sharing their expertise and congratulated them on the successful completion of challenging technical work, POPRC-14 was gaveled to a close at 4:11 pm.The Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis of POPRC-14 will be available on Monday, 24 September 2018.

IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided limited daily web coverage from POPRC-14. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has published a summary and analysis report from the meeting.



Photos by IISD/ENB | Tallash Kantai

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The dais during the morning plenary, L-R: Kei Ohno Woodall, BRS Conventions Secretariat; POPRC Chair Estefânia Gastaldello Moreira, Brazil; Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, BRS Conventions Secretariat; and Abiola Olanipekun, BRS Conventions Secretariat
A view of the room on the final day of negotiations
Victorine Augustine Pinas, Suriname
Abiola Olanipekun, BRS Conventions Secretariat
Jean-François Ferry, Canada, reported on the work of the contact group on PFOA.
Tamara Kukharchyk, Belarus
Observers consider the text on PFOS, L-R: Trine Celius, Norway; Timo Seppälä, Finland; and Zhanyun Wang, International Panel on Chemical Pollution
Delegates review text before the afternoon plenary.