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Council Resolution 99-02

Council Resolution 99-02

Distribution:  General

C/99-00/RES/02/Rev.5

ORIGINAL:  ENGLISH

Banff, 28 June 1999

Developing a North American Regional Action Plan on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

THE COUNCIL:

RECOGNIZING that certain persistent, toxic, and bioaccumulative chemicals released to the environment as a result of human activity pose high risks to the environment, to ecosystems, to human health and to sustainable development in North America, and that some of these substances are being or are likely to be addressed under the Sound Management of Chemicals (SMOC) initiative, in accordance with Council Resolution 95-05;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that convenient and dependable access to and dissemination of relevant, reliable and comparable monitoring information, along with sound interpretive assessments based on that information, are crucial to the effective management of such substances as well as to the confirmation and quantification of progress in respect to such management;

ALSO RECOGNIZING that the operational integration of modeling and research components with monitoring and assessment functions is necessary for the sound management of such substances;

CONSCIOUS of a need for ongoing assurance that scientifically-based data and interpretations derived by the NAFTA countries with respect to such substances are accessible, comparable, continuing, and of known quality, as well as of a need for ongoing assurance that this information is adequate and appropriate for its intended purposes;

NOTING Council Resolution 95-05 which creates the North American Working Group for the Sound Management of Chemicals (the “Working Group”);

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the advice of the Working Group on the need to develop a North American Regional Action Plan (NARAP) promoting collaboration and cooperation between and among the Parties for the purpose of upgrading monitoring and assessment functions and related activities to support the SMOC initiative;

HEREBY DIRECTS the Working Group to develop a NARAP on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment in support of the SMOC initiative which, among other things, promotes collaboration with regard to the acquisition of environmental data and information for purposes of assessing the exposure to such substances and the risks they pose to human health and the environment;

FURTHER DIRECTS that the Working Group should focus on substances currently covered by the SMOC initiative, although it should also look to identify other substances to be possibly considered under the SMOC initiative; and

ENCOURAGES the Working Group to build upon existing infrastructure and institutional arrangements in developing the NARAP.

 

APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL:

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Carol M. Browner

Government of the United States of America

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Julia Carabias Lillo

Government of the United Mexican States

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Christine Stewart

Government of Canada

Developing a North American Regional Action Plan on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment