**4. The birth of the Stockholm Convention**

The issue of POPs begun to be addressed in the 1980s; Canada has brought it onto the international agenda [10–12]. In Canada, research found out and heightened the sensitivity of concerns of its northern indigenous populations. It was in the 1983, when the international organizations like UNEP and WHO asked Canada to turn down Canada effort to seek international actions to reduce these chemical actions. During this time, the government of Canada has entered into force the convention of management of long-range transboundary air pollution [12]. Although its implementation was regional rather than global, the fact that the convention covered most of the northern hemisphere made it a feasible forum. Ultimately, the convention integrated POPs into its agenda, it created POPs agreement that covered many of the initial "dirty dozen" of these chemicals in the country.

Then, the issue once addressed at an international scale in the form of soft law by the 1992 Rio UN Conference on Environment and Development and Agenda 21. By 1995, the UNEP Governing Council initiated an assessment process regarding a list of 12 POPs subject to future regulation [13]. An Ad Hoc Working Group on POPs was established to develop a plan for assessing information on the chemistry, environmental dispersion, toxicity, sources, and socioeconomic impacts of a list of 12 chemicals called the "dirty dozen" [13]. By 1996, the working group concluded the need for global action to include the establishment of a global, legally binding instrument. Consecutive meetings that were held from 1998 to 2001 have succeeded to produce signatory document for countries. In 2001, in the conference that was held in Stockholm, Sweden, about 91 countries and the EU signed the Convention.
