Capacity development programme of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions Secretariat serves as one of the main instruments to support developing country Parties and Parties with economy in transition in the implementation of their obligations under the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions.
A variety of tools and approaches are employed to serve Parties in effective manner aiming to maximize short, medium and long-term impacts, including modules, toolkits and e-learning courses, online and face-to-face training activities, projects and study tours. Capacity development to support Parties in the implementation of each of the three conventions focuses on the following thematic areas:
- Basel Convention: national strategies for the environmentally sound management of hazardous and other wastes, control procedures for transboundary movements of hazardous and other wastes, national reporting obligations, the take-back procedure, the Ban Amendment, the disposal of hazardous wastes and waste prevention and minimization;
- Rotterdam Convention: national action plans, information exchange obligations, effective participation in the work of the Chemical Review Committee, submission of import responses for pesticides and industrial chemicals listed in Annex III to the Convention, alternatives to Annex III chemicals, monitoring, data collection, reporting of pesticide poisoning incidents related to severely hazardous pesticide formulations, national decision-making process related to banning or restricting chemicals and submission of notifications of final regulatory action, and the establishment of systems and procedures for sending export notifications with regard to banned or severely restricted chemicals not listed in Annex III to the Convention;
- Stockholm Convention: guidance for the development and updating of national implementation plans, including on inventories and reporting, effective participation in the work of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee, elimination or restriction of the production and use of intentionally produced persistent organic pollutants, alternatives to persistent organic pollutants, reduction or elimination of releases of unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutants, monitoring of persistent organic pollutants in humans and the environment, persistent organic pollutants in articles, stockpiles, and the environmentally sound management and disposal of persistent organic pollutant wastes;
- Cross-cutting areas pertinent to two or all three of the conventions: legal and institutional frameworks, national coordination, the exchange of information on chemicals and wastes, the provision of support to customs officers, illegal traffic and trade of hazardous chemicals and wastes, inventories, gender and social dimensions, the mainstreaming of chemicals and wastes into national sustainable development strategies in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, accident prevention and preparedness for hazardous waste and chemicals emergencies, the strengthening of the science-policy-business interface, regional cooperation among entities responsible for the implementation of the conventions, and the enhancement of skills for chairing meetings of convention bodies.