Persistent Organic Pollutants in Hong Kong

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants commits the international community to protecting human health and the environment from harmful effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and aims to end global use and release of 12 most toxic POPs. 

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organochlorine compounds widely used as pesticides and/or industrial chemicals. These chemicals share four common properties highly toxic, persistent, capable of long-range transport and bio-accumulation in the fatty tissues of living 

The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty committing the international community to protecting human health and the environment from the potentially harmful effects of POPs (UNEP Chemicals, 2005). The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has identified 12 most toxic POPs (the Dirty Dozen ) for control under the Convention, including 10 intentionally produced POPs pesticides/industrial chemicals (aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), mirex, toxaphene and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)) and two unintentionally produced POPs by-products (polychlorinated dibenzo-/ -dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs)). In implementing the Convention, Parties to the Convention will take measures to restrict the trade, production and use of the intentional POPs and to reduce and, where possible, to ultimately eliminate the production and release of the unintentional POPs by-products. 

The HKSAR is a sub-tropical city situated in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) at the south-eastern tip of Mainland China. It has a total area of 1104 km2, comprising Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories and 262 outlying islands (Fig. 7.1). 

Data screening and quality assurance checking were conducted at initial information retrieval and all data entries cross-checked during subsequent data compilation. Production/activity levels were verified against different information sources including annual records, selfmonitoring reports and ad hoc study reports. There was inadequate documentation of local industrial/commercial/urban activities and/or limited analytical data on the level of POPs contamination in some classes of emission sources. These were identified as inventory data gaps for followup actions. 

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