United Nations
Envionment
Programme

UNEP/NOWPAP IG.8/5/4

26 August 2003

Original: ENGLISH

Eighth Intergovernmental Meeting on
the Northwest Pacific Action Plan
Sanya, Hainan Province
The People's Republic of China, 5-7 November 2003

REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF POMRAC IN 2002/2003 BIENNIUM

(June, 2002 through October, 2003)

•  Background

Pollution Monitoring Regional Activity Center of UNEP Action Plan for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Northwest Pacific Region (NOWPAP) was formed by NOWPAP Fourth Intergovernmental Meeting (Beijing, China, April 6-7, 1999) on the basis of the Pacific Geographical Institute of the Far East Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (Vladivostok).

In its work POMRAC is guided by UNEP Action Plan for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Northwest Pacific Region, the Resolutions of NOWPAP First Intergovernmental Meeting of (Seoul, Korea, September 14, 1994), the Resolutions of NOWPAP Third Intergovernmental Meeting (Vladivostok, Russia, April 9, 1998), NOWPAP Fourth Intergovernmental Meeting (Beijing, CHINA, April 6-7, 1999) and NOWPAP Seventh Intergovernmental Meeting (Vladivostok, Russia, March 20-22, 2002).

On the territory of Russia POMRAC in its work is guided by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, laws and other norms of Russian legislation, this document, UNEP and RCU NOWPAP management directives.

The Russian national NOWPAP body is the Ministry of Natural Resources with Center for International Projects acting as its executive body.

Russia is represented in POMRAC by the experts from the Far East Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, the Far East Hydrometeorological Research Institute, regional branches of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The overall goal of POMRAC is coordination of activity and establishment of cooperation in regional monitoring of marine and coastal environment of the Northwest Pacific Region (NOWPAP/3) under the program NOWPAP UNEP.

Following the results of discussions at the First NOWPAP/3 Coordinating Committee Meeting ( Beijing, 21-22 May 2001) and the 7 ^th Intergovernmental Meeting ( Vladivostok , 20-22 March 2002), the demarcation of the responsibilities and activities between CEARAC and POMRAC was presented by the secretariat in document UNEP/NOWPAP IG.7/8. POMRAC is fully responsible for two working groups: WG 1 - atmospheric deposition; and WG 2 – river and direct inputs.

The 7 ^th Intergovernmental Meeting also approved the budget of $125,000 for 2002 - 2003 for POMRAC activities (UNEP(DEC)/NOWPAP/IG.7/10). Table 1.

1. The main functions and tasks of POMRAC

•  To collect relevant information on the introduction of the program of regional monitoring of marine and coastal environment of the Northwest Pacific Region (NOWPAP/3).

•  To organize meetings of Working Groups under the plan approved by the member states at intergovernmental meetings.

•  To collect information on technologies and know-how in the field of monitoring of the sea, coastal and associated fresh waters as well as the atmosphere in NOWPAP region.

•  To develop training programs, to plan and organize training courses and technical seminars.

•  To coordinate an exchange of monitoring results in the network of monitoring stations which are included in NOWPAP/3 system and to give these results to other NOWPAP projects and organizations.

•  To provide regular reports on the activity of Regional center and to submit these results to NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meetings.

•  To publish the technical reports, manuals, bulletins etc. as results of NOWPAP activity.

•  o continuously inform the population and organizations concerned on the condition of sea, coastal and associated fresh waters as well as the atmosphere in the NOWPAP region.

•  To maintain contacts with POMRAC Working groups and with the appropriate national and regional international organizations in NOWPAP member states to achieve the objectives and tasks of the UNEP NOWPAP.

•  To provide the necessary methodical and, when possible, technical assistance for organizations of the NOWPAP countries in efforts and techniques of monitoring of sea, coastal and associated fresh waters and the atmosphere. To organize data intercalibration in cooperation with other international and regional organizations concerned, first of all IOC UNESCO. To promote harmonization of the approaches and techniques used in NOWPAP/3 monitoring network.

•  To consider and in consultation with RCU NOWPAP to undertake other necessary initiatives to achieve the objectives and tasks of the Action Plan in the field of pollution monitoring.

 

Within its terms of reference and under current legislation, POMRAC has the right to:

•  To liaise with NOWPAP partners; To participate in NOWPAP work on adjacent subjects;

• To involve specialists and experts in the preparation of materials on NOWPAP problems, to form regional environmental cooperation expert boards in consultation with the national coordinator, Center for International Projects.

• To participate in an information exchange on regional environmental problems in accordance with national rules and procedures;

• To conduct meetings and other activities on realization of POMRAC NOWPAP thematic sectors and the program as a whole and on adjacent subjects;

• To prepare recommendations for national and international partners concerned on prospective lines of activity of POMRAC NOWPAP;

• To conduct analysis of information on the problems of international environmental cooperation in the region;

• To advise organizations, institutions and individual experts on international environmental cooperation in the region;

• To correspond with the POMRAC partners on routine matters.

2. Organisation and staff of POM/RAC

The managerial functions of POMRAC are executed by POMRAC Directorate on the basis of Pacific Geography Institute of the Far East division of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Center for International Projects. Day-to-day technical-organizational work is to be done by the assigned researchers and technicians from Pacific Geography Institute of the Far East division of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

 Staff

Two staff members of PGI have been engaged in the work related to POM/RAC activities.

Address

7 Radio Street 690041 Vladivostok Russian Federation
Phone and Fax: (7-4232) 312833
E-mail: kachur@tig.dvo.ru

Main Responsibilities

In accordance with the decision of NOWPAP Seventh Intergovernmental Meeting, with the budget approved at this meeting and with the main lines of POMRAC work, the following activities were scheduled for 2002 – 2003:

1. Creation of working groups for the following lines of work:
• Atmospheric Deposition (WG1)
• River and Direct Inputs (WG2).
2. Convene the 1^st Focal Point's Meeting POMRAC
3. Working Group Meetings

3. Report of Activities for 2002 -2003

During 2002 groups of Focal points and experts were formed which were nominated by the NOWPAP members. During the first part of 2003 POMRAC Secretariat prepared documents for the 1^st First Focal Points Meeting for POMRAC which was held from 9 – 12 April 2003 in Vladivostok , Russian Federation .

The major objectives of this meeting were to agree on the Terms of Reference for the FPM, to provide guidance for the work of both Working Groups (WG1 on Atmospheric Deposition and WG2 on River and Direct Inputs) and to recommend to the next NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meeting, the budget and workplan of POMRAC for 2004/5.

The participants to the first FPM were the nominated Focal Points of four NOWPAP Members, invited experts from NOWPAP members, representatives of UNEP, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO/IOC and UNEP's Global International Water Assessment (GIWA), the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, the Ministry of Nature Resources the Russian Federation, the directors of DINRAC, CEARAC and a Senior Consultant of MERRAC.

The report of the meeting has been published and distributed to all NOWPAP members by the Director of POMRAC.

The First Focal Point Meeting for POMRAC has defined provisional directions of work for WG1 and WG2.

2) Working group 1

Possible Tasks of Atmospheric Deposition WG are :

•  Review and assess existing programs and systems, which maybe used for the evaluation the atmospheric deposition of contaminants into the marine and coastal environment.

•  Review of the scientific data and models for the evaluation of the atmospheric deposition of contaminants into the marine and coastal environment.

•  Discuss strategies and priorities for the implementation of this program.

•  Identify the models, monitoring parameters and data to be used in order to link terrestrial data to atmospheric deposition into the marine and coastal environment.

•  Discuss the need and possibility of developing the monitoring systems for atmospheric deposition in marine environment (at sea).

•  Discuss and recommend the improvement of the existing monitoring systems (including the capacity building and training activities).

•  Identify and cooperate with potential partners, organizations and/or programs, which may operate in the related fields.

•  Discuss the development of data and information sharing and exchange mechanisms within NOWPAP members and the related partners.

•  Discuss the development of public outreach, programmes.

3) Working Group 2

  Possible Tasks of WG2 on River and Direct Inputs are:

Assessment:

•  Exchange of detailed national reports with the description of parameters measured, methods used, data formats, quality criteria, national policies, etc. (format for submission to be prepared by POMRAC)

•  Review and evaluation of existing monitoring programs related to river inputs of contaminants into coastal and marine environment

•  Identification of needs for improvement of existing programs and possible needs for new techniques

•  Preparation of the regional overview using data submitted by countries.

•  Final products: regional assessment of river inputs to the seas and recommendations regarding future works (to be published by POMRAC)

Prioritization:

•  Identification and prioritization of required activities under this working group

•  Regional prioritization of parameters to be measured;

Capacity Building :

•  Intercalibration exercise (using external funds as well)

•  Training courses (using existing training centers/courses)

•  Exchange of experts (back-to-back with WG meetings)

Public Outreach:

•  Preparation of public awareness materials (e.g., for website, newsletter, or booklet).

WG1 and WG2 will meet once or twice a year (rotating among NOWPAP members), working mainly by correspondence (via internet).

The 1-st Meetings of WG1 and WG2 after the ending of danger of SARS will be in the second part of November 2003 in Vladivostok .

4) Other activities.

During the second part of 2003 POMRAC worked on editing the reports of the 1FPM. This Report was published in September 2003.

During June-September 2003, POMRAC prepared the 1-st variant of the internet Site for POMRAC NOWPAP (http://www.pomrac.dvo.ru).

4. Report of the budget for 2002-2003

Table 1. Budget for the 2002/2003 biennium - as approved by the 7 ^th NOWPAP Intergovernmental Meeting, 20-22 March 2002, Vladivostok , Russian federation .

Table 2. Workplan and Budget for POMRAC in 2003 - as approved by POMRAC 1^st Focal Points Meeting, Vladivostok 9-11 April 2003)

* include travel to 6 FPM MERRAC in September

** I did not know full cost as I had not information about full DSA and travel expenses all participants 1FPM POMRAC

5 . Planned Activities during 2004 – 2005

Table 3. Workplan and Budget for POMRAC for 2004/5 – as recommended by the First Focal Point Meeting for POMRAC from 9 – 12 April 2003 in Vladivostok, Russian Federation.

* may include WG meetings upon decision of FPM