Venue: International Environment House I (IEH-1), 11-13, Chemin des Anémones, 1219, Châtelaine-Geneva, Switzerland.
The meeting opened at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, 10 October 2012.
The working language of the meeting will be English.
Highlights: The members of the Regional Organization Groups and Global Coordination Group for the Global Monitoring Plan (GMP) for POPs met in Geneva from 10 to 12 October 2012 to update the GMP guidance, agree on the GMP data handling strategy and define regional arrangements for the implementation of the second phase GMP in the five UN regions. New information on methodologies for sampling and analyzing new POPs in core media is reviewed by the group for inclusion in the updated GMP guidance document. Further inputs to update the monitoring guidelines under the GMP have been identified and a timeline was established for submitting the updated guidance document to COP-6 in 2013. To ensure harmonized data handling in the second phase GMP, a data warehouse supporting the collection, processing, storing and presentation of monitoring data will enable such GMP data handling support in regions with limited capacity. In regions where well-established data repositories and reporting schemes are in place, these will be used for the purpose of the GMP. Finally, regional strategies for implementation and development of second monitoring reports have been developed by the regional organization groups, including organization and planning of coordination activities, organization of work in the region, division of responsibilities and timetable for completion of the second monitoring report.