Monitoring of POPs in Russia

In the Russian Federation the state environmental monitoring service is under the responsibility of the Federal Office for hydrometeorology and environmental monitoring (Roshydromet[31] ).

Roshydromet is the federal executive body which provides public service in hydrometeorology and related areas, in environmental monitoring, as well as state supervision over activities affecting meteorological and other geophysical processes.

Roshydromet supports the implementation of the obligations of the Russian under its international agreements, including the Stockholm Convention, the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

The objective of monitoring over persistent organic pollutants is collection of information on the state of the environment, which shall help assess the environmental impact on human health, as well as get statistical data for comparative analysis. Comparative analysis shall become a reliable information basis for the development and control over implementation of executive decisions on managing chemical hazards, and over the effectiveness evaluation. In addition, monitoring over POPs pollution is an important tool for implementing Russia’s obligations under the Stockholm Convention. 

Collecting data and information, including on capacity enhancement activities and the development of regional monitoring is under responsibility of the regional organisation groups[32] .

As part of fulfilling its obligations under the Stockholm Convention, Russia conducts the following types of monitoring research:

-         Monitoring of atmosphere

-         Monitoring of surface waters and bottom sediments

-         Monitoring of soil

-         Monitoring of wastes

-         Biomonitoring

In 2011-2012 Russia has started active implementation of the most important projects within the Stockholm Convention framework. For example, the Russian Ministry of natural resources and ecology and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have signed an agreement on technical cooperation for implementation of the Stockholm Convention. Under this agreement UNIDO and JSC “Russian Railways” have initiated a joint project “Environmentally sound management and elimination of PCB-containing equipment at the Russian Railways network and in other companies-holders of PCBs”.

In addition, the Industrial research organization “Typhoon”[33]  supports Roshydromet efforts in environmental monitoring by fulfilling the following tasks:

1. Nuclear monitoring
2. Environmental monitoring, in particular:

1. Monitoring of ambient air (in regard to benzapyrenes, heavy metals);
2. Monitoring of soil (in regard to heavy metals, pesticides);
3. Monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (in all matrices).