UNDP Global Environmental Facility (GEF)/Small Grants Programme (SGP)-Ghana

THE 12 PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS,12 (POPs)/DIRTY DOZENS - OUR CONCERN.
ECOLOGICAL RESTORATIONS.

INTRODUCTION

1. Mounting evidence of damage to human health and the environment has focused the attention of the international community on a category of substances referred to as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). POPs are pesticides, industrial chemicals or unwanted by-products of industrial processes or combustion. They are characterized by persistence – the ability to resist degradation in various media (air, water, sediments, and organisms); bio-accumulation – the ability to accumulate in living tissues at levels higher than those in the surrounding environment; and potential for long range transport – the potential to travel great distances from the source of release through various media (air, water, and migratory species). Because of these properties, POPs can be found throughout the world, including in areas far from their original source

The harm these chemical substances can cause to humans and animals includes disruption of the endocrine system , suppression of the immune system, reproductive dysfunction, and developmental abnormalities. Organisms at the top of food chains such as predatory birds, marine mammals, and humans absorb the greatest concentrations of POPs >>More

UNDP GHANA