Purpose and History
Because pollutants can be carried many hundreds of kilometres by winds, pollutants emitted in one country may be deposited in other countries. Deposition of pollutants in a country can far exceed the amount of such pollution produced domestically due to pollution arriving from one or more upwind countries.
In 1976, the environment ministers from the Nordic countries proposed a European convention on transboundary air pollution that emphasized sulphur compounds (Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP)). After negotiations, 34 countries and the European Commission signed this Convention in 1979 in Geneva. The convention came into force in 1983, and has now been ratified by 47 European countries, two North American countries (Canada and the United States) and Armenia. The CLRTAP now includes eight protocols that identify specific obligations to be taken by Parties.
The Gothenburg Protocol was signed on 30 November 1999 in Gothenburg, Sweden, to support the CLRTAP. The Gothenburg Protocol entered into force on 17 May 2005.
Read more about this topic: Multi-effect Protocol
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