Further Resources

Synergies app launched at 2013 COPs

Synergies app launched at 2013 COPs

Synergies app launched at 2013 COPs

The mobile app is expected to increase transparency and participation in Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm convention meetings. Available for Android and iPhone/iPads.

The Secretariat announced the release of the free mobile phone app Synergies on the opening day of the ordinary and extraordinary meetings of the conferences of the parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions (COPs).

Synergies provides a window to information about the meetings of the global chemicals and wastes conventions. It gives quick and easy access to essential information about the 2013 COPs. More than 1,700 participants are expected to attend the two-week long conference.

The app provides Alerts, Schedule, Agenda, News, ExCOPs, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conference documents, and General Information for the COPs. It was designed by Zero to Heroes Media (Vancouver, Canada) working closely with the conventions' Secretariat, based in Geneva.

The free app can be downloaded from the Apple App store for iPhone/iPad users and from Google Play for Android users.

After the 2013 COPs, Synergies will continue to provide similar information at future major meetings of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions.

 

Extraordinary UN Conference Takes Historic Strides to Strengthen Chemical Safety Globally

Extraordinary UN Conference Takes Historic Strides to Strengthen Chemical Safety Globally

Extraordinary UN Conference Takes Historic Strides to Strengthen Chemical Safety Globally

UNEP and FAO team up to promote synergies between the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions in two-week chemicals and waste meeting.

Geneva, Switzerland, 11 May 2013 – The three conventions that govern chemicals and hazardous waste safety at the global level concluded their first ever jointly held meetings of the parties late Friday night in Geneva. The historic meeting, attended by nearly two thousand participants from 170 countries, as well as 80 Ministers, adopted 50 separate decisions aimed at strengthening protection against hazardous chemicals and waste.

The three legally autonomous conventions had convened the joint meeting of the conferences of the parties to strengthen cooperation and collaboration between the conventions, with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of their activities on the ground. Each convention then continued individually over the two-week period to deal with its own specific topics of the global chemicals and waste agenda before returning in a joint session at the end of the week to finalize their outcomes.

The meeting culminated in a ministerial segment on 9 and 10 May 2013 dedicated to the theme of strengthening synergies between the conventions at national, regional and global level. The ministerial segment was joined by Swiss Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva, and Global Environment Facility (GEF) CEO and Chairperson Naoko Ishii.  The global agency leaders pledged to deepen cooperation and collaboration as part of a broader effort to raise the profile of chemicals and waste issues, promote green growth and alleviate poverty.

At its conclusion, the joint meeting acclaimed the “Geneva Statement on the Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste”. The Geneva Statement welcomed the UNEP-led consultative process on financing options for chemicals and waste that has considered the need for heightened efforts to increase the political priority accorded to sound management of chemicals and waste.

In a press conference following the ministerial segment, Mr. Steiner called the conferences of the parties “a unique historic event coming at a time of unprecedented change and progress in the arena of global environmental governance. The strengthening of UNEP and the synergies process of chemicals and waste multilateral environmental agreements are complementary parts of the ongoing reform to fortify the environmental dimension of sustainable development.”

Ms. Ishii spoke of the challenges countries face protecting the planet's critical ecosystems from contamination by hazardous chemicals and waste and of GEF support for strategies to overcome them. “At this critical juncture, the Global Environment Facility is committed to its financial support to help countries address these important challenges in three ways,” said Ms. Ishii. “Assisting them in their efforts to mainstream sound chemicals management in national agendas, creating an integrated GEF chemicals and wastes focal area, and expanding engagement with the private sector.”

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said that in many countries intensive crop production has depleted agriculture’s natural resource base, jeopardizing future productivity. “To fight hunger and eradicate poverty, we will need to find more sustainable ways to produce 60 percent more food by 2050,” he said. However, he recognized that chemical pesticides would continue to be part of farming in many parts of the world in future.

“The challenge is to enable countries to manage pesticides safely, to use the right quantity, at the right time and in the right way and also to apply alternatives to hazardous pesticides. Because when we don’t, pesticides continue to pose a serious risk to human health and the environment and will eventually end up as waste. Today, half a million tons of obsolete pesticides are scattered around the developing world,” he said.

“Around 70 percent of the chemicals addressed by the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions are pesticides, and many are used in agriculture. It is in the best interest of all countries to ensure that the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions can work together, effectively and efficiently, to address various aspects of the chemical life cycle.”

The joint meetings of the conferences of the parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions also reviewed the impact of the arrangements put in place by governments in 2011 to strengthen synergies among the treaties.

The parties endorsed the organization of the Secretariat, and adopted a programme of work and budget individual and for joint activities of three conventions in 2014-2015. ”The parties have agreed to strengthen capacity building and technical assistance for countries by investing the savings realized over the past two years into an enhanced technical assistance programme that better meets the needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition” said Jim Willis, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions. “In an era of financial austerity, we have learned through synergies how to deliver more to parties while living within the economic limits faced by Governments today.”

“Much of the success of this synergies meeting is owed to the outstanding cooperation and inspired leadership of the three presidents of the conferences, Franz Perrez of Switzerland, Magdalena Balicka of Poland and Osvaldo Álvarez-Pérez of Chile,” added Mr. Willis.

The 6th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention agreed to list hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) to Annex A to the Convention with specific exemptions for expanded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene in buildings. Efforts to adopt a non-compliance mechanism, however, did not succeed in the face of continuing disagreement on how such a mechanism might function.

Basel Convention's parties, at their 11th Conference of the Parties, took decisions to strengthen compliance with the Convention. The Parties adopted a framework for the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes and other wastes, and agreed, over the next two years, to develop technical guidelines on transboundary movements of electronic and electrical wastes (e-waste).

The meeting also decided terms of reference for the newly established Environmental Network for Optimizing Regulatory Compliance on Illegal Traffic (ENFORCE), which aims to prevent and combat illegal traffic in hazardous and other wastes through the better implementation and enforcement of national law.

The 6th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention had considered the possible addition of five chemicals and one severely hazardous pesticide formulation to Annex III of the Convention. It agreed by consensus to add the pesticide azinphos-methyl and the industrial chemicals PentaBDE, OctaBDE and PFOS to Annex III of the Convention.[1] Listing in Annex III triggers an exchange of information between Parties and helps countries make informed decisions about future import and use of the chemicals. The addition of four substances is the highest number to be added to the Convention's prior informed consent procedure by any conference of the parties since the adoption of the Convention in 1998.

In contrast, the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention did not succeed in reaching agreement on the addition of chrysotile asbestos and a severely hazardous pesticide formulation containing paraquat to the Convention. The proposal to list chrysotile asbestos and the paraquat formulation will be considered at the next Conference of the Parties in 2015.

The joint meeting hosted a three-day Regional Fair from 1 to 3 May 2013 dedicated to the theme 'Synergies through regional delivery' and attended by 20 Stockholm Convention or Basel Convention Regional Centres and two Regional Offices of UNEP. The Fair provided the venue for the signing of bi-regional and intra-regional cooperation agreements between centres in Latin America and Caribbean, and Central and Eastern European regions in the areas of technical assistance and awareness-raising and outreach.

Note to editors:

Chemicals contribute many advantages to today's world; however their use can also pose risks to human health and the environment. To reduce this harmful global impact, three conventions have been established that regulate chemicals and hazardous waste at global level:

Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal regulates the export/import of hazardous waste and waste containing hazardous chemicals. The Convention was adopted in 1989 and entered into force in 1992. It currently has 180 Parties.

Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade currently regulates information about the export/import of 47 hazardous chemicals listed in the Convention’s Annex III, 33 of which are pesticides (including 4 severely hazardous pesticide formulations) and 14 of which are industrial chemicals. The Convention was adopted in 1998 and entered into force in 2004. It currently has 152 Parties.

Unlike the Stockholm Convention, the Rotterdam Convention does not ban or restrict trade in chemicals or pesticide formulations, but serves to strengthen protection of human health and the environment by expanding the exchange of critical safety information between exporting and importing States.

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants currently regulates 23 toxic substances that are persistent, travel long distances, bioaccumulate in organisms and are toxic. The Convention was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004. It currently has 179 Parties.

Contact:

Christine Fuell, Technical Senior Officer and Coordinator, Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention (FAO), Tel. +39 06 5705 3765, christine.fuell@fao.org

Michael S. Jones, Public Information Officer, Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Cell +41 (0) 79 730 44 95, msjones@brsmeas.org

Nick Nuttall, Director, Division of Communication and Public Information, and UNEP Spokesperson, +254 20 7623084, nick.nuttall@unep.org

For more information, visit the 2013 COPs website: synergies.pops.int or follow the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions on Twitter @brsmeas #brscops.

 


[1]PentaBDE: Pentabromodiphenyl ether (CAS No. 32534-81-9) and pentabromodiphenyl ether commercial mixtures; OctaBDE: Octabromodiphenyl ether commercial mixtures; PFOS: Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, perfluorooctanesulfonates, perfluorooctanesulfonamides and perfluorooctanesulfonyls.

 

Information for Admission of Observers

The ordinary and simultaneous extraordinary meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions are open to participation by observers in accordance with the relevant Rules of Procedure.

National or international, governmental or non-governmental bodies or agencies wishing to be represented by observers in one or more of the upcoming meetings should proceed as follows: 

  1. Bodies or agencies that have already been admitted to attend, as observers, past meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel and/or Rotterdam and/or Stockholm Conventions, need to fill in the registration form and submit it to Ms. Stéphanie Cadet, scadet@pops.int 
  2. Bodies or agencies that have not previously attended a meeting of the Conferences of the Parties or of subsidiary bodies may apply for observer status in one or more of the meetings. To apply for observer status, bodies and agencies need to fill in one or more of the application forms and provide supporting documents to demonstrate that they meet the following criteria: 
    1. Independent legal personality as duly registered/incorporated under the laws of a specific country/State (e.g. Articles of Association, Certificate of Incorporation, etc.); and 
    2. Qualification in: 
      • fields relating to the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes as well as their management and disposal; 
      • matters covered by the Rotterdam Convention; 
      • matters covered by the Stockholm Convention.

Application forms for requesting admission as an observer to one or more of the meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and/or Stockholm Conventions should be sent to Ms. Yvonne Ewang-Sanvincenti, yvonne.ewang@unep.org no later than 15 April 2013.

Upon confirmation by the Secretariat that the requesting body or agency appears to meet these criteria, the observer will need to fill-in and submit the completed registration form to Ms. Stéphanie Cadet, scadet@pops.int. In accordance with the relevant Rules of Procedure, such bodies or agencies may be represented at a meeting as an observer unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object.

This procedure does not apply to observers from the United Nations and its specialized agencies; the International Atomic Energy Agency; any State and any political and/or economic integration organization not party to the relevant Convention(s); as well as the Global Environment Facility (in relation to the Stockholm Convention only). Such observers may, on invitation of the President, participate without the right to vote in the proceedings of any meeting, unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object.

 

Presenter Title Language  Download
Rotterdam Convention FAO Agenda
English
Stephanie Williamson - PAN UK

 Atalo Belay - PAN Ethiopia
Phasing out HHP insecticides in smallholder vegetables in Ethiopia’s Central Rift Valley English
Nurmi Pangesti - IRRI Cambodia Integrated Pest Management in rice English
María Angélica Bonilla - Rainforest Alliance, Costa Rica Rainforest Alliance's strategy to progressively reduce the use of highly hazardous pesticides English

Security Identification Documentation and Badges for Meeting Participants

Security identification badges are issued to participants upon arrival at the meetings and upon completion of the relevant registration procedure and admissions procedure for observers (if applicable).

Meeting participants may collect their security identification badges at the registration desks upon presentation of one of the following identification documents issued by a government recognised by the United Nations: 

  1. Valid national passport; 
  2. Valid picture identification card, in Latin alphabets; 
  3.  Valid picture "residency" card, in Latin alphabets; or 
  4.  Valid picture drivers licence, in Latin alphabets.

Rules of Procedure (extract)

Basel Convention

Rule 6

  1. The Secretariat shall notify the United Nations and its specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency and any State and any political and/or economic integration organization not party to the Convention of any meeting so that they may be represented by observers. 
  2. Such observers may, upon invitation of the President, and if there is no objection from at least one third of the Parties present, participate without the right to vote in the proceedings of any meeting.

Rule 7 

  1. The Secretariat shall notify any body or agency, whether national or international, governmental or non-governmental, qualified in fields relating to the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes as well as their management and disposal, which has informed the Secretariat of its wish to be represented, of any meeting so that they may be represented by observers, subject to the condition that their admission to the meeting is not objected to by at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting. 
  2. Such observers may, upon invitation of the President, and if there is no objection from at least one third of the Parties present, participate without the right to vote in the proceedings of any meeting in matters of direct concern to the body or agency they represent.

Rotterdam Convention

Rule 6 

  1. The United Nations, its specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as any State not Party to this Convention, may be represented at meetings as observers. 
  2. Such observers may, upon invitation of the President, participate without the right to vote in the proceedings of any meeting, unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object. 

Rule 7 

  1. Any body or agency, whether national or international, governmental or non-governmental, which is qualified in matters covered by the Convention and which has informed the Secretariat of its wish to be represented at a meeting as an observer may be so admitted unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object. 
  2. Such observers may, upon invitation of the President, participate without the right to vote in the proceedings of any meeting in matters of direct concern to the body or agency they represent, unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object.

Stockholm Convention

Rule 6 

  1. The United Nations, its specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as any State not Party to the Convention, as well as any entity operating the mechanism referred to in paragraph 6 of Article 13 of the Convention, may be represented at meetings as observers. 
  2. Such observers may, upon invitation of the President, participate in the proceedings of any meeting without the right to vote, unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object.

Rule 7 

  1. Any body or agency, whether national or international, governmental or non-governmental, which is qualified in matters covered by the Convention and which has informed the Secretariat of its wish to be represented at a meeting as an observer, may be so admitted, unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object. 
  2. Such observers may, upon invitation of the President, participate without the right to vote in the proceedings of any meeting in matters of direct concern to the body or agency they represent, unless at least one third of the Parties present at the meeting object.