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Brooks Yeager Head of the United States Delegation at the Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants (INC-4) Concluding Press Statement Bonn, Germany, March 25, 2000

The United States believes that the negotiation at INC-4 made solid and continuing progress toward the adoption later this year of a text for a global treaty on the world's most toxic industrial chemicals and pesticides -- called Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs. The meeting was the fourth in a planned series of five negotiating meetings for the treaty. The fifth session is scheduled to take place in South Africa next December. The future Convention on POPs will be the first global treaty to address in a comprehensive manner the risks to human health and the environment from the production and use of these dangerous chemicals and pesticides.

• The United States shares the view that the Preamble should include a clear statement of an aspiration to strive to eliminate all POPs. The treaty delineates not only the measures Parties will take to restrict or eliminate POPs, but also the criteria to be used in considering the addition of other chemicals to the Convention. The treaty will also contain sections outlining the ways in which developed countries will assist developing country Parties to implement their obligations under the Convention.

• The United States is encouraged by the progress made in defining a goal for the elimination of dioxins and furans that is at once ambitious and realistic. We are committed to examining the aspirational language put forward at this conference with the intention of developing the strongest achievable goal for these substances, which are unintentional by-products of combustion, including such commonplace sources as fireplaces, wood stoves and crop burning, and a number of industrial processes. In the United States, we have made tremendous reductions in dioxins and furans, and have successfully cut these releases by 80% over the last decade. We fully expect to continue our efforts in achieving reductions in dioxins levels.

• The treaty will address critical public health issues, including the conditions for continued use and production of DDT. Each year at least one million people die from malaria, and the majority of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. At INC-4, the United States worked with South Africa to develop a use exemption for DDT in countries that was accepted at the conference as the basis for further discussion. The use of DDT is to be limited to World Health Organization (WHO) approved uses for fighting malaria (approximately 26 developing countries are still using DDT). The ultimate goal of the Convention will be to eliminate the use of DDT once alternatives are available. U.S.-proposed approaches were accepted for dealing with PCBs and general requirements for managing risks during any phase-out period for chemicals under the POPs Convention.

• The key issues of technical and financial assistance were explored in depth. There was general agreement on the need to support developing countries in meeting their obligations under the future Convention. It was decided to continue discussion of these issues during an intersessional meeting before INC-5. The United States believes that each treaty must have its own approach to technical and financial assistance that makes sense for its specific needs. We do not believe a new mandatory fund for POPs is necessary. However, the U.S. does believe that new and additional funding will have to be mobilized to assist developing Parties through existing organizations. In the past few years, the U.S. has invested over $19 million in POPs related projects around the world.

• It is the United States position that the entire text of the draft Convention is precautionary in nature. The addition of newly developed chemicals to the POPs list particularly reflects the precautionary approach as set forth in Rio Principle 15. The U.S. and JUSSCANNZ support a reference to a precautionary approach in the Preamble of the text.

None of the intentionally-produced POPs covered by the draft Convention are manufactured in the United States and most have been banned in the U.S. for more than a decade. POPs have four characteristics: they are highly toxic; they are transported great distances; they persist in the environment for extended periods of time; and they bioaccumulate in the food chain. The so-called "dirty dozen" POPs have local, regional and global health and environmental implications.

The United States delegation held positive and constructive meetings during the week with several regional groups -- such as the African Group -- as well as bilateral sessions with key countries, and meetings with the U.S. environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and business representatives. The U.S. delegation also had additional useful exchanges with native American groups. It participated in the negotiations as a member of a JUSSCANNZ coalition consisting also of Japan, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Iceland, Australia, Korea, Norway and Turkey.

INC-4 brought together 501 participants representing 121 countries, several UN offices and intergovernmental institutions, and approximately 75 non-governmental organizations.

In a related development, President Clinton yesterday announced a four-year, $50 million South Asia Regional Initiative (SARI) Energy Program to be funded and implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). SARI will encourage regional economic integration by promoting cooperation and trade in clean energy, natural gas and renewable energy sources such as solar power, among South Asian countries. Many of these projects will also address POPs concerns in the region.

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