BRS Secretariat becomes a member of the Mountain Partnership and co-organises side event at the 6th Global Mountain Partnership Meeting

In September 2022, the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS Secretariat) became a member of the Mountain Partnership, the United Nations voluntary alliance dedicated to improving the lives of mountain peoples, and protecting mountain environments around the world. The BRS Executive Secretary, Rolph Payet, welcomed the induction, noting that “Achieving sustainable development in mountains is a chance we have to take and win, as we want to achieve the Global Goals and leave no one behind.”

To mark the occasion, the BRS Secretariat participated in the 6th Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership, which was held from 26 to 28 September 2022, in Aspen, Colorado. Organised every four years, these global meetings, serve as an opportunity for Mountain Partnership members to network and forge meaningful alliances that foster building up the resilience of mountain communities and ecosystems, within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This year’s Global Meeting of the Mountain Partnership is organized against the backdrop of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development 2022 and the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

During the Meeting, the BRS Secretariat organized the “Keeping our Mountains Waste-Free” side event in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, GRID-Arendal and the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation. Drawing from the Plastic Waste in Remote and Mountainous Areas project, the side event focused on enabling policymakers, national park managers and tourists to preserve mountain ecosystems and protect local communities from pollution. The Plastic Waste in Remote and Mountainous Areas project is financed by the Governments of France and Norway and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. Lesotho, Mauritius, Nepal, North Macedonia, and Peru are the first Parties to the Basel Convention to benefit from the project as pilot countries.

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS Secretariat) brings together the three leading multilateral environmental agreements that share the common objective of protecting human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals and wastes.
 https://www.brsmeas.org/.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, aims to protect people and the environment from the negative effects of the inappropriate management of hazardous wastes worldwide.
https://www.basel.int/

The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade provides countries with a first line of defence against hazardous chemicals by facilitating information exchange about their characteristics.
https://www.pic.int/.

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants looks to protect human health and the environment from highly dangerous, long-lasting chemicals by restricting and ultimately eliminating their production, use, trade, release and storage.
https://chm.pops.int/.

For information on the Plastic Waste in Remote and Mountainous Areas, contact: Jost Dittkrist, BRS Programme Management Officer, jost.dittkrist@un.org.

For media inquiries, contact: Marisofi Giannouli, BRS Associate Public Information Officer, marisofi.giannouli@un.org.