East Asia Monitor
UNU
e-Newsletter
Issue 12. January 2005
UNU
International Symposium
"Ecosystem Impacts of POPs"
Bangkok, Thailand; 26 -27 April 2005
On 26-27 April 2005, the United Nations University (UNU) will hold an international symposium in Bangkok on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Ecosystem Impacts of POPs. This symposium is jointly organized by the UNU and Environmental Research & Training Center, Bangkok. The symposium is the sixth in a series under a UNU programme focusing on Environmental Pollution and Governance in the East Asian "Coastal Hydrosphere" - the region's freshwater and seawater coastal environments and the natural living resources contained in them. Speakers from the region and invited experts from other parts of the world will discuss the role of various land-based emission sources in POPs pollution in the coastal areas, particularly highlighting the ecosystem impacts of POPs pollution.
UNU initiated its regional pollution monitoring programme on chemicals in the environment in 1996. Since 1998, this programme has focused on POPs in the coastal waters of East Asia. Nine countries have been involved in this monitoring programme: China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. UNU has undertaken capacity building in this monitoring programme by providing analytical equipment to each country and hands-on training to young laboratory personnel as well as annual funding for implementation of the monitoring. As part of these activities, annual symposia and workshops are held by UNU. The Symposia are held in a different participating country every year, with a thematic focus selected to correspond to their local interest (e.g., 2001 Symposium on Endocrine Disruptors, held in Kuala Lumpur, 2002 Symposium on industrial pollutants held in Seoul, and 2003 Symposium on agrochemical pollutants, held in Hanoi).
For the forthcoming symposium, the focus will be on POPs and their impacts to ecosystem. Numerous, including industrial, agricultural, and household, activities generate chemical pollutants, quite a few of them are POPs. Of particular relevance are groups of chemicals such as PCB's. Also of interest, although they are not recognized under the Stockholm Convention as POPs, are the group of chemicals known as PAH's, and a number of phenols. Within the existing research on POPs, relatively little consideration has been devoted to systematically investigating the impacts of POPs to ecosystem; it thus includes impacts not only to natural environment but also to the human health. This topic may be particularly relevant to POPs research in Thailand where rich biological diversity and also flourishing industrial activities along burgeoning urban centers. The Symposium may present a timely opportunity for consideration of this issue.
In addition to Thai leaders in POPs research, experts from other parts of the world will also present their most recent research on the subject. Researchers from China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam will present the status of environmental pollution in their respective countries - a monitoring effort that is part of the UNU Coastal Hydrosphere project. This monitoring project has been undertaken with support from the Shimadzu Corporation of Kyoto, Japan.
The Symposium will be conducted in English and is open to the public. Admission is free, although advance registration is required (please contact the address below). Media representatives are cordially invited to attend.
Contact address:
Ms. Ruchaya Boonyatumanond
Environmental Research & Training Center
Technopolis, Tambon Klong 5
Amphoe Klong Luang
Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Phone: +66 (2) -577-1136 to 7
Fax: +66 (2) -577-1138
E-mail: ruchayapoo@hotmail.com