Environmental Engineering Reference
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and explanations provided. Deiter Jorst from Germany led the metals working group and
I chaired the one on POPs. The first meeting of the POPs preparatory working group was
held in March 1995 and was attended by John Buccini, who was en route from his final
sessionaschairoftheOrganisationforEconomicCo-Operation andDevelopment (OECD)
Chemicals Group in Paris. He was immediately intrigued by the POPs story and we will
meet him again a little later.
To cut a long story short, our two draft protocols were accepted in December 1996
by the convention as providing the basis for final negotiations that were then conducted
by Lars Björkbom. I first met Lars about four years earlier during the negotiations to set
up the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy and AMAP. At the time, he was Sweden's
ambassador for the environment. He was a highly respected and veteran diplomat with an
amazing memory. During brief moments of relaxation in Geneva, he would entertain us
with stories. They included his experiences at the 1972 United Nations Conference on the
Human Environment held in Stockholm. It was the first major UN conference devoted to
relationships between human activity and the environment and laid the political ground-
work for the birth one year later of the UNEP.
In June 1997, the first AMAP state of the Arctic environment report was delivered at
a ministerial meeting in Norway. Its chapters on POPs and heavy metals therefore became
available at an opportune time. In December of that year, the Executive Body to the Con-
vention considered andapproved the text fortwo new protocols: one onPOPsandthe other
on heavy metals. In May 1998, both protocols were signed by parties of the convention at a
special conference heldinAarhus,Denmark. Before Iwascaught upinthiswork,Ithought
that international negotiations were played out in the conference room. They are not. They
take place on the phone between meetings, in the conference corridors, during meals and
in little groups outside the main room - often working and writing throughout the night. It
is here that most of the “give and take” of compromise is played out. The conference room
is the “Heathrow Airport”, where, all being well, it all comes together or vanishes - never
to be seen again.
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