National Implementation Plans and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was adopted in 2001 with the following objective (Article 1):

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.

Under Article 7 of the Convention, Parties are required to develop and endeavour to implement national implementation plans (NIPs). These NIPs are to be transmitted to the Conference of the Parties (COP) within two years of entry into force of the Convention for the transmitting Party. The Stockholm Convention is dynamic, in that Parties regularly add chemicals to the lists in Annexes A, B and/or C to the Convention. This has implications

NIPs addressing newly added chemicals are due within two years of the entry into force of the amendment which added them to the scope of the Convention. Parties are also required under Article 7 to review and update, as appropriate, their NIPs on a periodic basis.

Article 7 further calls on Parties, where appropriate, to “cooperate directly or through global, regional and subregional organizations, and consult their national stakeholders, including women’s groups and groups involved in the health of children, in order to facilitate the development, implementation and updating of their implementation plans.” Finally, Parties are to integrate their NIPs into their sustainable development strategies where appropriate.

This course provides an introduction to the process of preparing, reviewing and updating NIPs. The course aims to, among others, strengthen the capacity of Parties to implement and enforce relevant provisions and obligations under Article 7 of the Stockholm Convention with respect to:

The course enhances knowledge and understanding of the Stockholm Convention, in particular with respect to POPs inventories, and helps learners identify and use available guidance, tools and technical assistance. With such knowledge and tools, learners are better equipped to undertake the preparation, review and updating of NIPs, thereby better protecting human health and the environment.

After completing the course, learners will be able to:

the important contribution of NIPs towards meeting obligations of the Stockholm Convention (Lesson 1)

steps required to prepare, review and update NIPs (Lesson 2)

the challenges in the process of undertaking POPs inventories (Lesson 3)

how POPs inventories are used in planning exercises (Lesson 4)

The primary target audiences of this course are:

The course is suited for learners irrespective of their level of pre-existing knowledge of the Stockholm Convention. It is focused on the NIPs process, and it not intended to provide a comprehensive overview of all the provisions of the Convention.

This course is self-paced and adapted to the schedule of full-time working professionals. The six lessons of the course were developed with a logic and flow in mind, and are designed to be completed in sequence. The six lessons are grouped into three modules:

The successful completion of the course rewards the learner with a certificate of completion. To earn this certificate, the learner must pass a quiz associated with each of the three modules with a minimum grade of 70% from no more than three attempts for each quiz.

This course was developed by the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions, in cooperation with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and funded through the European Union and the Government of Sweden.