Fukuya Iino
United Nations University

In 1997, when I was a graduate student, I sat in the last row of the crowded U Thant Hall at the UN house. I was viewing presentations given by the National Project Coordinators (NPCs) and one of my predecessors, Dr. Juha Uitto (currently working at UNDP). This project was in the second year of the first phase launched in 1996. The responsibility to operate this project was later handed to Dr. Zafar Adeel, who is now the current assistant director of UNU-INWEH (International Network on Water, Environment, and Health) in Canada. Both Dr. Uitto and Dr. Adeel have earned and maintained an impressive reputation for this project with much appreciated help from NPCs and UNU project teams and administration staffs. Since then, the project has successfully continued with project outcomes generated by 8 participating countries (China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam) in addition to Japan as follows.

1. Environmental Monitoring and Analysis in the East Asian Region (1996-1999)
2. Environmental Monitoring and Governance in the East Asian Coastal Hydrosphere (1999-2002)
3. Environmental Monitoring and Governance in the East Asian Hydrosphere (2002-2005)
This year commemorates the 9th year of the project and also the last year of the third phase. The third phase focused on pesticide-origin POPs monitoring such as DDT, Aldrin, and Dieldrin in water, soil, and sediment samples in each country. These collected data utilized in this project will serve as great resources for the Conference of the Stockholm Convention which will start evaluating the effectiveness of the Convention in 2008. It is my great honor to undertake such a project with its great achievements and a long commendable history.

International chemical management policies and legislations have been significantly improved in the last decade, particularly philosophically supported by Agenda 21 and favored by public opinion and consensus. The representing milestone of the improvement is the entry into force of the Stockholm Convention in 2004. Other international concerted efforts culminated in the establishment of IOMC (Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals) with six UN agencies and OECD, its Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR), UNEP's SAICM (Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management), and GHS (Globally Harmonized System ) of Chemical Classification and Labeling.

Currently shifting from its initial phase to its mature phase, chemical management science and policy are facing new challenges. The First Conference of Parties of the Stockholm Convention agreed to set up a POPs review committee to evaluate future POPs. For example, the Norwegian government already proposed to the committee to list the flame retardant pentabromodiphenyl ether (penta-BDE) among other proposed chemicals. In addition, National Implementation Plans will be submitted in the next coming years which will serve as each country's national policies to eliminate and reduce chemical risks posed by the POPs including existing PCB stockpiles which have to be destroyed by 2028.

This international conference will provide updated information and discuss these future challenges in POPs management. Leading governmental officials and researchers who currently formulate national chemical management policies will be invited to share their recent experiences and ideas with conference participants. Two NPCs of this project will report the latest POPs monitoring results in each country. I hope information generated and disseminated through this project and its events will contribute to facilitating better sound chemical management in the Asian region which are being drastically transformed to economics in transition and even some developed regions. All comments and feedback on this project are very much appreciated. Thank you.