Stockholm Convention | July 2021 | Third National Implementation Plan For The Stockholm Convention On Persistent Organic Pollutants In The Republic Of Croatia

Persistent organic pollutants (hereinafter: POPs) include a large number of toxic organic compounds that, to a varying degree, resist photolytic, biological and chemical degradation, and have the following properties: toxicity, persistence (resistance to chemical, photochemical and biological degradation), accumulation in living organisms (bioaccumulation, mostly in fat tissue), tendency for long-range transport (due to the property of partial volatility, they are in the vapour phase or are absorbed by particles in the atmosphere) and adverse effects on the environment and human health.

POPs released into the atmosphere are transported over long distances, can be deposited anywhere in the world, cannot be removed, intensively accumulate in the food chain and, as such, have an adverse effect on all environmental components.