The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions, and with support provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), implemented regional capacity building projects in developing countries and countries with economies in transition to support the Global Monitoring Plan for POPs. Under the framework of the UNEP/GEF Global Monitoring Plan projects, the aim of this report is to provide insight to existing challenges and approaches for improving national and regional capacity for sustainable monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in air and water. The main results of the report are presented in chapters 2, 3 and 4 for air and in chapters 5, 6 and 7 for water. The aim of these chapters is to provide an objective, accurate, and concise summary of the current state of knowledge relating to existing POPs monitoring and surveillance activities in air and water and perspectives for enhancing future capacity to address future needs and the increasing number of POPs.