Stockholm Convention Regional Centre in Kuwait (SCRC Kuwait)

Regional focus switches to Kuwait

SCRC Kuwait is hosted by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), which was established in 1967 to carry out applied scientific research and to provide consulting services for both governmental and private sectors in Kuwait, the Gulf region and the Arab World. KISR was nominated by the parties of the Asia region, and endorsed by the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention in 2009 to serve as a Stockholm Convention Regional Centre. The centre serves basically the countries located in the West Asia region, namely: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. The main objective of the SCRC Kuwait is to strengthen and further develop the capabilities of countries in the West Asia region in implementing the Stockholm Convention, through capacity building and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies adopted and used under the Stockholm Convention.

The priorities of the centre are as follows:

  1. Coordinate with the 10 served members regarding the compliance of the stated recommendations by the POPRC and the conference of the parties;
  2. Provide all served members with needful technical support to assist them in fulfilling the requirement of the convention;
  3. Upgrade the centre with up to date facilities such as equipment for providing better services.

As such the vision for evolving the RC in the next 5 to 10 years is to ensure that all members would have the means and support needed from the RC to reach the level of full compliance with the Stockholm Convention.

SCRC Kuwait/KISR has emerged as a centre of excellence in the field of laboratory analysis of various environmental samples, including POPs and has a proven track record in laboratory management. The main laboratories and support sectors available in KISR that are related to the work of SCRC Kuwait are:

  1. Laboratories
    • The Central Analytical Laboratory
    • Environmental Organic and inorganic Chemistry
    • Ecotoxicology and bio-monitoring Laboratories
    • Radioecology and radiochemistry
    • Remote Sensing              
  2. Support sectors
    • National Scientific & Technical Information Centre
    • Manpower Development Division  

KISR/SCRC Kuwait has been undertaking a wide range of environmental studies particularly on the monitoring of POPs in various matrices and producing a significant number of articles in the peer review journals in recent years. Some of the notable works related to the Stockholm Convention include:

  • Capacity-Building Workshop for the Development of Ambient Air Monitoring Network for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) including the newly added POPs to the Stockholm Convention in the region of West Asia;
  • A study on Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in car dust from Kuwait: Implications for human exposure; and
  • A study on “Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Kuwait’s atmosphere: Building the capacity to fulfil data requirements of the Stockholm Convention on POPs” .

For more information please visit: www.kisr.edu.kw.