ABSTRACT
Adopted in 2001, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is a legally binding global agreement designed to protect human health and the environment from exposure to certain hazardous, transboundary chemical pollutants. The concept of a POP is socially constructed; POPs include only those chemicals that are subject to long-range environmental transport and thus pose threats to human health and the environment on a global scale. The Stockholm Convention is one of three treaties that address global chemical pollution; the other two are the Basel Convention on hazardous wastes and the Rotterdam Convention on prior informed consent in trade. While these conventions are legally autonomous, an unprecedented “synergies” initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme has formalized administrative and programmatic linkages among them.
