Results of the 16th Workshop on Environmental Monitoring

　The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) (hereinafter referred to as the "POPs Convention") was adopted in 2001, and entered into force on May 17, 2004, with the aim of preventing and reducing global pollution by POPs such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
　In addition to regulating the production of POPs, this Convention stipulates that the parties conduct domestic and international environmental monitoring to verify the presence of POPs in humans and the environment (Article 11), and to assess the countermeasures effectiveness of the POP Convention, by using the monitoring data and other information (Article 16).
　MOE Japan has been holding the Workshop on Environmental Monitoring of POPs in East Asian Countries since FY2002. The purpose is to organize an international cooperative monitoring system in the East Asia region and to continuously collect data contributing to the assessment of the effectiveness of the POPs Convention.

1. Date: November 18 – 20, 2025
2. Venue: Tokyo, Japan
3. Organizer: Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Japan
4. Participants:
　・Government officials from 10 East Asian countries (Kingdom of Cambodia, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Republic of the Philippines, Kingdom of Thailand, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Japan)
　・Experts from United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, and Japan
5. Main Contents
　The workshop was co-chaired by Prof. Sodeno Reiko, Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), and Dr. Yasuyuki Shibata, Honorary fellow, National Institute for Environmental Studies, and discussed the following topics：
(i)    Progress of the Effectiveness Evaluation of the POPs Convention
　The Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions reported on the Fourth Global Monitoring Report and Future Plans for Effectiveness Evaluation, and the Secretariat of UNEP reported on the outline of the Global Environmental Facility's Global Chemical Monitoring Program, followed by an exchange of opinions. In addition, an agreement was reached on the direction for compiling an East Asia sub-regional report that will include monitoring data collected under this project with the cooperation of participating countries from 2019 to 2024.
(ii)   Report on analysis results and status of POPs monitoring in East Asia
　Reports were made on the status and results of the monitoring at supersites, which were designated as sites unaffected by specific pollution sources (Cape Hedo, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and Jeju Island, Republic of Korea), and the cooperative monitoring at the Republic of the Philippines and Kingdom of Thailand. Participants approved that supersite monitoring will be continued in Cape Hedo and Jeju Island.
(iii)  Future POPs monitoring plan
　Participants confirmed that cooperative monitoring in East Asia, for which Japan offers support for sampling and analysis, will be conducted in Malaysia in 2026, and in Republic of Indonesia in 2027. It was also decided to make adjustments for conducting cooperative monitoring in the Republic of the Philippines and Kingdom of Thailand in the future.
(iv)  Framework for the future East Asia POPs monitoring project
　In order to sustainably continue and strengthen POPs monitoring in the East Asian region, opinions were exchanged on the following points:
　・The potential use of GC-MS/MS for PCDDs/DFs and PCBs monitoring
　・The availability and importance of GC/MS technology for PFAS analysis
　・Distribution of POPs analytical technical manuals and harmonization of POPs monitoring methods between Japan and Korea
　・The importance of changing background monitoring locations
　・Implementation of analytical capacity improvement programs applicable to participating countries

Chairpersons' Summary[410KB]