A new online tool developed by the Stockholm Convention allows members of the general public and professionals alike to monitor progress in reducing persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

The tool – developed by the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention in collaboration with the Convention’s Regional Centre in Central and Eastern Europe - the Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment -contains POPs monitoring data in ambient air, human milk, and water, over various timeframes and accessible on a virtual globe.

Concentrations of chemicals such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and DDT/DDE , including their transformation products, have generally declined (or remain stable at low levels) in ambient air and in human tissues, the tool shows.

These data, obtained in the frame of the global monitoring plan for POPs, constituted a major input to the effectiveness evaluation of the Convention, which recently held its second meeting in Geneva, indicating that regulations targeting POPs are succeeding in reducing levels of POPs in humans and in the environment.

Since the tool is also openly available to the public, the Stockholm Convention’s findings have become even more transparent - mapping out a future where information on POPs is accessible for everyone everywhere.

The Stockholm Convention – administered by UN Environment – aims to protect human health and the environment from POPs. These toxic chemicals require careful monitoring, as they have long lifetimes and are easily distributed around the planet.

To explore the new online resource click here. For more information email charles.avis@brsmeas.org or vanessa.burrows@unep.org