The IPCP board members Marlene Ågerstrand, Marta Venier, and Gabriel Sigmund have teamed up with Kateřina Šebková to organize a SETAC session “Scientific Input to the New Global Science-Policy Panel“. If you are attending SETAC Vienna, please join the IPCP team on Monday, 12 May at 14:30 in Hall F2 for an interesting series of talks with Anna Isabel Becker, Miriam Diamond, Yolanda López-Maldonado, Paromita Chakraborty and Ellen Palm.
IPCP Social at SETAC Vienna
IPCP members and friends are invited to an IPCP Social at SETAC Vienna on 13 May at 18:15. We will meet at the main entrance of the SETAC venue (The Austria Center Vienna). We look forward to discussing science and meeting old and new friends.
IPCP Working Groups
Following consultation and discussion with IPCP members in the winter 2024/2025 the IPCP initiated a number of working groups that are open for members to participate. The overall idea for these groups is to translate a joint interest or concern into something more actionable, which can take different forms such as publications, reports, open letters, webinars, etc. The IPCP does not have funding available to financially support these activities, which are member driven with some support from the board members. For projects to obtain formal IPCP support requires submitting a proposal that includes details about the initiative, funding sources, etc. The following working groups are up and running and open for additional IPCP members to participate:
Environmental Sciences to be recognized as basic science by the International Science Council (ISC): Environmental Sciences and/or Ecotoxicology are not recognized as basic science “categories”, which has implications on the attention they should receive as well as funding e.g., by national science funds who rarely have related core expertise.
Chemical pollution and biodiversity follow-up on previous and ongoing IPCP initiatives. This group could also dive into changing effects of chemicals due to warming (multi stressor response), as well as one health concepts, looking at multistressor response from ecosystems to humans.
Pollution from and during mining activities as a case study for prospective pollution estimation due to changed needs of mineral resources for the energy transition, legacy pollution from old and/or abandoned mines in the context of extreme weather events, pollution burden shifting to low-income countries e.g., due to improper recycling/waste management practices and related aspects of environmental justice, changes in chemical risk and hazard due to increasing extreme weather events (flooding, storms).
Monitoring chemical pollution in low-resource settings focused on the review of existing low cost tools for monitoring, the establishment of a network of potential collaborators across regions, as well as the compatibility of data collection methods with global monitoring initiatives.
Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution Prevention
In mid-June three IPCP board members, Martin Scheringer, Miriam Diamond, and Maria Clara Starling, will attend the resumed third session of the ad hoc United Nations Environment Programme Open-Ended Working Group on the Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution Prevention (SPP OEWG 3.2) in Uruguay. This event is organized back-to-back with the intergovernmental meeting to consider the establishment of a science-policy panel. Policy briefs and other documents prepared by the IPCP as inputs to the process are available on the IPCP publications page. The IPCP attendees will be providing their daily summaries via our website.
Formas Communications Grant
Enhancing the role of science in decision-making is essential for transitioning to a more sustainable use of chemicals and plastic materials. We are therefore thrilled and proud that Formas, a Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, has chosen to support the ongoing science-to-policy efforts of Marlene Ågerstrand, Michael Bertram and Anna Soehl of IPCP. They will remain focused on supporting a transparent and robust Science-Policy Panel to further strengthen the sound management of chemicals pollution and waste. Meanwhile, Bethanie Carney Almroth and Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez (representing Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty) will continue making significant contributions to the global negotiations for a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.