The role of environmental science and politics in identifying persistent organic pollutants for international regulatory actions

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to describe and analyze the character of the interplay between environmental science and policy-making in the process of identifying persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for initial inclusion in the POPs Protocol under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). The objective of the CLRTAP POPs Protocol is to control, reduce, or eliminate discharges, emissions, and losses of organic compounds that are toxic, persistent, bioaccumulative, and prone to long-range atmospheric transport and deposition within the CLRTAP region, which covers North America and Europe, including the European region of the former Soviet Union. The empirical materials used were documents underlying decisions and personal observations at seven CLRTAP POPs meetings. In order to describe and analyze the role of environmental science and politics in identifying an initial list of regulated substances, we have chronologically recapitulated the CLRTAP POPs process leading up to the adoption of the POPs Protocol. Our work was guided by two research questions: What was the strength of the interplay and were there any key events of interplay? Our analysis revealed a strong interplay between environmental science and policy-making throughout the process, mutually (but not always equally) affecting each other. We have identified four events of interplay that were of significance for the final outcome: the initial problem identification, the selection of CLRTAP as a forum for cooperative actions, the screening of possible protocol POPs, and finally, the concluding protocol negotiations.Key words: Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, negotiations, persistent organic pollutants, risk assessment.