Global Pesticides Release Database - [Meteorological Service of Canada - EC - GC

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What is GloPeRD?

In recognition of the increasingly urgent needs of the national and international community for accurate and complete usage, emission and residue data for pesticides, the Modelling & Integration Research Division of Air Quality Research Branch, Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC), Environment Canada, established the Global Pesticides Release Database (GloPeRD). GloPeRD provides high-quality gridded emission and residue data of persistent organochlorine pesticides, such as HCH, DDT, toxaphene, with different scales and resolutions. These datasets can be used by scientific, industrial, educational, and policy-making communities.

There is considerable evidence that persistent organochlorine pesticides circulate globally and accumulate in remote areas like the Arctic. Establishing the sources of pollutants and their emissions and residues are first steps towards reducing their levels in the environment. The analysis of emission trends is also important in developing ways to manage such chemicals more effectively. MSC is one of a few organizations, if not the only organization, in the world to create the emission and residue inventories of pesticides on a global scale.

This research is a contribution to the Canadian Arctic research through the Northern Contaminants Programme (NCP). The NCP was established to study the presence of contaminants in the Arctic ecosystem. The three main contaminants groups of concern are persistent organic pollutants (POPs, including organochlorine pesticides), heavy metals and radionuclides. Many of these contaminants have no Arctic sources and yet some are found at high levels in animals at the top of the Arctic food chain and in humans.

This research is also a contribution to the Global Emissions Inventory Activity (GEIA), a component of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) core project of the International Geosphere – Biosphere Program (IGBP).

This web site provides a number of data sets, and journal articles for free downloads. Data sets such as surrogate data and emission data can be found at datasets, and journal articles can be found at publications. However, these data sets are available to be freely downloaded by registered users only. You must register and then login before you can download them.