South Africa National Implementation Plan (NIP) for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

This National Implementation Plan (NIP) provides for defining the South Africa’s commitment to the full implementation of the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), through an Action Plan and related initiatives and measures. The NIP concerns: the management of POPs pesticides, with provisions for their banning or restriction, and stock remedies; the control of industrial POPs chemicals, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB), dioxins and furans (PCDD) and other unintentionally produced POPs, due to open burning of hazardous waste, sugar cane burning and uncontrolled fires; the control of POPs emission limits, in order to determine their impact on human health and on the environment; evaluation of the presence of POPs in water and sediments; creation of a contaminated land register, in order to collect information on the nature and origin of contamination, the extent of contamination and the status of any remedial measures required; mechanisms for capacity building and raising awareness among stakeholders.
Concerning the assessment of the POPs issues in the country and the related measures and activities for their control, the NIP focuses on: import and export of POPs pesticides; studies, monitoring and data collection on the effects on food preparations, human health and the impacts on the environment of POPs; presence of PCBs in the energy sector; risk assessment; presence of residues in water resources and impacts on the health of fish; presence of PCBs in the air and related air pollution; use of POPs in agricultural land; forecast of future production, use and releases of POPs and requirements for exemptions; training on the use of pesticides; improvement of non-governmental organisations’ role in POPs education and environmental protection and management.