This blog post is based on the remarks of Ms. Dana Lewis on the Global Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP) round table “Embedding POPs Data Management: Information Systems at National and Regional Levels” held on 28 October 2025.
The Basel Convention Regional Centre for the Caribbean (BCRC-Caribbean) has taken a major step toward advancing chemicals management in the region through the development of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Regional Information System (POPs-RIS). This initiative was carried out under the GEF 5558 project, “Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean”, implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Mapping POPs through Geographic Information Systems
The POPs-RIS serves as a centralized database for national and regional information on the use, storage, and management of POPs, as well as on contaminated sites across the Caribbean. At the core of the platform lies Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology—a tool that allows the mapping, analysis, and visualization of data in spatial form to reveal trends and relationships between data points.
Rather than representing data in a traditional spreadsheet with only types and quantities of POPs, the RIS identifies where these substances exist geographically. The platform also serves as a depository for POPs-related studies and reports, including national inventories, assessment reports, and recommendation reports. Users can upload field photos, link documents to specific sites, and can inform updates to National Implementation Plans (NIPs), as well as serve as a long-term repository for these plans. By centralizing both historical and current NIP documents, the platform supports continuity in chemicals management and facilitates easier tracking of progress over time.
A Web-Based Collaborative System
The POPs-RIS is a web-based system built on the ArcGIS Hub, providing a GIS-enabled interface for mapping and analyzing contaminated sites, emissions, and chemical inventories. The web-based approach supports remote accessibility across participating countries, allowing multiple users to view, edit, and update data in real time. The synchronization ensures that once data are added or modified, updates are immediately reflected across the regional system.
Security remains central to the platform’s design. The system manages both national and site-specific data with multi-level permissions, controlling who can view, upload, or manipulate information. This ensures the integrity of data management while maintaining transparency for national stakeholders.
Current Scope and Future Expansion
Currently, the platform focuses on key POPs data, including POPs pesticides, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), unintentional POPs (UPOPs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Eight (8) countries participated in the initial phase: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Although the official launch is forthcoming, BCRC-Caribbean plans to expand the platform to include other Caribbean countries it serves. The vision is to broaden its scope beyond POPs to include other chemicals and pollutants, such as mercury, e-waste, used tires, and specific waste streams. In doing so, the platform will evolve into a comprehensive regional hub for chemicals management.
Integrating Technical Data and Risk Assessment
The data submitted to the platform must include GPS coordinates or mapped boundaries identifying the location of POPs or POP-containing products—whether stored, used, or disposed. Each entry can include detailed information about the facility, such as its name, type (e.g., landfill, warehouse, incinerator), and operational context. The system also allows users to add shapefiles for sensitive areas such as water bodies, residential zones, agricultural lands, and protected ecosystems. With the data on location of POPs and nearby sensitive areas, the system enables to make decisions inferring how the chemicals may impact the areas in close proximity.
This integrated structure allows the RIS to identify contamination sites and ascribe risk ratings or scores, visualizing which sensitive areas exist nearby to determine what should be prioritized for immediate management. Data must be in GIS-ready formats including shapefiles and attribute tables, compatible with ArcGIS.
Empowering Technical Collaboration
Though all users can navigate the platform without technical knowledge, the key stakeholders who edit the platform are recommended to have a degree of technical proficiency as the RIS operates on a GIS platform. It also requires collaboration between focal agencies to the Stockholm Convention and professionals from ministries of environment, health, and agriculture which can provide geospatial data. The integration of chemical and spatial data in RIS allows users to visualize complex information in accessible ways. Capacity-building and training programs are planned to ensure users understand how to work and operate with the system.
Visualizing Data for Decision Making
The RIS includes interactive dashboards and maps that display national and regional data. Each data submission undergoes two-step authentication for validation before publication, ensuring accuracy and reliability.
“GIS is all about the data. The more data that you have, the more platform will be built out and the more we're able to visualize that data.”
Users can navigate by type of POPs to see where they exist within the region and quantities, switching to national views. Maps show nationally where the chemicals exist, allowing users to zoom to specific sites. Unique identifiers link locations with relating information, and photos can also be linked to sites. When zooming into specific sites, users can see what POPs exist, sources of POPs, pathways and receptors. The platform also allows for the level of risk posed by contaminated sites to be identified through a “risk score”, and this is an opportunity to support informed decision making. Policymakers and technical staff can prioritize interventions more effectively and allocate resources where they are most needed.
Strengthening National Implementation and Regional Cooperation
A key innovation of the POPs-RIS is its ability to link with and support the development and update of NIPs under the Stockholm Convention. The system can store data relevant to the requirements of the NIP, collecting data in standard format across countries. Reporting becomes easier, streamlining the process of tracking inventories, stockpiles, emissions, and contaminated sites. This harmonized approach supports consistent, evidence-based reporting to the Convention Secretariat and facilitates regular NIP updates. The RIS supports regional collaboration through harmonization across Caribbean countries, enhancing the region’s capacity to meet the obligations of the Stockholm Convention.
“Beyond the RIS being just a storage site or a hub, it is a system that functions as a dynamic tool for monitoring and the sustainable management of POPs.”
To learn more about the Global NIP Update project, visit Global NIP Update | Green Policy Platform
For a deeper dive into the GGKP round table “Embedding POPs Data Management: Information Systems at National and Regional Levels”, you can access the full recordings and materials here: https://www.greenpolicyplatform.org/webinar/embedding-pops-data-management-information-systems-national-and-regional-levels
Feel free to visit the BCRC Caribbean website and social media to be notified of the official launch of the platform: www.bcrc-caribbean.org
This article was curated by Soomin Bae, Knowledge Management Support Consultant, GGKP/GGGI and reviewed by Anastasiya Buchok, Senior Project Associate, GGKP/GGGI.
