DUSHANBE, April 17, Asia-Plus -- A two-day seminar to discuss the national plan of obligation by Tajikistan of its obligations on The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) will open in Dushanbe on April 20.  

The seminar is part of the Persistent Organic Pollutants project implemented in Tajikistan by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).  

Lyudmila Bobritskaya, the POPs project assistant, said that the main goal of the seminar is to acquaint its participants with the National Plan’s content, the plan of actions to improve legal foundation of the country, as well as the plan of liquidation of obsolete and banned pesticides, etc.  

The seminar participants include representatives from Tajikistan’s government, Academy of Sciences, higher educational institutions, association of dehqan (peasant) farms, a number of industrial enterprises, local and international NGOs, as well as media.  

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, singed by 110 states on May 22 2001, is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs).  POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and are toxic to humans and wildlife.  POPs circulate globally and can cause damage wherever they travel.  In implementing the Convention, Governments will take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment. 

Tajikistan ratified the Convention on December 6, 2006 and will officially become member of it on May 9, 2007