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Gender Heroes 5: Children and art combine to reduce waste in Panama
Latest in the series highlights an inspirational artist leading an initiative to kick out waste and protect lives in Panama.

Gender Heroes 5: Children and art combine to reduce waste in Panama

Gender Heroes 5: Children and art combine to reduce waste in Panama

 

Gender Heroes 4: Working to get shipbreaking off the beach
See the latest in our Gender Heroes series to find out how two inspiring women helped found and now lead a coalition aiming for environmentally sound shipbreaking.

Gender Heroes 4: Working to get shipbreaking off the beach

Gender Heroes 4: Working to get shipbreaking off the beach

 

Gender Heroes 3: Exposure to hazards from e-waste recycling
The 3rd episode of the BRS Gender Heroes series examines the informal e-waste recycling sector in Africa.

Gender Heroes 3: Exposure to hazards from e-waste recycling

Gender Heroes 3: Exposure to hazards from e-waste recycling

 

Environmentally sound management of waste moves forward
Initiation of manuals on prevention and minimisation, EPR and financing systems for ESM were among the key results from a meeting held in San Francisco, USA, 10 to 12 November 2015.

Environmentally sound management of waste moves forward

Environmentally sound management of waste moves forward

 

Get the latest news on chemicals and wastes
Follow BRS via twitter on @brsmeas to get latest postings on the sound management of chemicals and wastes.

Get the latest news on chemicals and wastes

Get the latest news on chemicals and wastes

 

Global Roster of Experts now online!
To access recognised experts in chemicals and waste, visit the new online Roster, the latest addition to the BRS clearing-house mechanism.

Global Roster of Experts now online!

Global Roster of Experts now online!

 

BAN Amendment nearing entry into force as Jamaica ratifies
Jamaica became the latest party to deposit its instrument last week, meaning the Amendment will enter into force with an additional 11 ratifications.

BAN Amendment nearing entry into force as Jamaica ratifies

BAN Amendment nearing entry into force as Jamaica ratifies

 

Read the ICCM4 Press Release
Outcomes of the 4th International Conference on Chemicals Management, featuring governments, civil society, and private sector, 28 September to 2 October in Geneva.

Read the ICCM4 Press Release

Read the ICCM4 Press Release

 

E-questionnaire on illegal traffic
The Implementation and Compliance Committee invites Parties to provide information by 10 September 2015 about their experiences in implementing paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 9 of the Basel Convention. Please click here to view the Secretariat’s Communication and here to view the questionnaire in English, French and Spanish.

E-questionnaire on illegal traffic

E-questionnaire on illegal traffic

 

Glossary of terms set to be finalized
The Small Intersessional Working Group on legal clarity will meet for the third time on 21-22 September 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland

Glossary of terms set to be finalized

Glossary of terms set to be finalized

 

Re-live the COPs with the new BRS videos
A new summary video film captures the 2015 Triple COPs experience and summarises key data and outcomes

Re-live the COPs with the new BRS videos

Re-live the COPs with the new BRS videos

 

Second Triple COPs Follow-up
Call for information and follow-up to the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention: second request letter now available.

Second Triple COPs Follow-up

Second Triple COPs Follow-up

 

Awards at COPs honour outstanding practitioners
Representatives from Cote d’Ivoire, Jamaica, Kenya, Phillipines and Nigeria were the winners of the special BRS awards for practitioners who have benefitted from Secretariat training opportunities, and used that training for national implementation.

Awards at COPs honour outstanding practitioners

Awards at COPs honour outstanding practitioners

 

PACE E-waste award-winning photos now online
View the 4 finalist E-waste photographs honoured at the COPs, including the winning entry from Kai Loeffelbein (Germany).

PACE E-waste award-winning photos now online

PACE E-waste award-winning photos now online

 

Parties adopt key decisions at 2015 Triple COPs
Finishing at 03:45 in the morning of Saturday, 16 May 2015, the Meetings of the Conferences of Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions are over, with several key decisions taken.

Parties adopt key decisions at 2015 Triple COPs

Parties adopt key decisions at 2015 Triple COPs

Geneva, Switzerland - 16 May, 2015

Significant steps were agreed upon early this morning by parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, as the 2015 Triple COPs drew to a close.

Staged under the theme “From Science to Action: Working for a Safer Tomorrow” from 4 to 15 May 2015, almost 1,200 participants from 171 countries converged on Geneva to push forward the chemicals and waste agenda at this biennial event.

A number of technical guidelines for the management of waste under the Basel Convention, four new listings (three under the Stockholm and one under the Rotterdam Conventions - polychlorinated napthalenes, hexachlorobutadiene, and pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters; and methamidophos respectively), and continued and strengthened synergies and implementation arrangements were the highlights of the decisions adopted on the final day. Meanwhile several chemicals considered were not listed, but instead deferred or made subject to special inter-sessional working group focus.

Basel Convention technical guidelines, aimed at assisting Parties to better manage crucial waste streams and move towards environmentally sound management (ESM), were adopted covering mercury waste and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) waste (one general and 6 specific waste-streams). Of high significance is the adoption on an interim basis of the technical guidelines concerning the transboundary movement of e-waste and used electronic and electrical products.

The BC technical guidelines on electronic, or e-waste provide much-needed guidance on how to identify e-waste and used equipment moving between countries, with the aim of controlling illegal traffic. Adoption came just days after UNEP released new data suggesting that as much as 90% of e-waste is dumped illegally, costing countries as much as US 18.8 $ billion annually and posing severe hazards to human health and the environment, particularly in Africa. Designed to provide a level playing field for all parties to the Convention, the guidelines will support and also encourage genuine recovery, repair, recycling and re-use of non-hazardous electronic components and equipment.

Regarding those pesticides where consensus could not be reached for listing, including paraquat and fenthion formulations, and trichlorfon, Clayton Campanhola, FAO Executive Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention, commented that “hazardous pesticides are not helping countries to produce more food with less, on the contrary: if badly managed, they cause negative impacts on natural resources and the health of rural communities and consumers.” In this respect, Parties requested additional technical assistance and support to identify alternatives to the use of hazardous pesticides which – if combined with integrated pest management (IPM) and agro-ecological approaches – form the basis for sustainable agricultural and rural development.

Whilst many Parties expressed their disappointment at the inability to reach consensus required for listing more of the chemicals proposed to be listed under the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, the BRS Executive Secretary Rolph Payet stressed the significance of the steps taken in noting that “our Conventions’ joint and mutually reinforcing objective is the protection of human health and the environment, and the Guidelines and additional listings decided upon by Parties during these two weeks continue to move us in this crucial direction. We have to place the sustainable management of chemicals and waste in the context of peoples’ lives, especially the more than 1 billion people on our planet who continue to live in absolute poverty and who strive to better themselves in whatever ways they can. We will never waver in our moral and political responsibilities towards the most vulnerable people in this world, and I believe strongly that the three conventions continue to offer the best framework for moving jointly towards a greener, more inclusive economy, and a safer tomorrow for all”.

Notes for editors:

  • The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is the most comprehensive international environmental agreement on hazardous and other wastes and has 183 parties.

  • The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade promotes shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among its 154 Parties.

  • The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health or on the environment. It has 179 Parties.

  • Polychlorinated napthalenes, Hexachlorobutadiene, and Pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters, are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) posing serious threats to human health and the environment.

  • Methamidophos is an extremely toxic organophosphate insecticide, causing serious adverse effects to human health, particularly to neural, immunity and reproductive systems.

  • E-waste data from the UNEP report “Waste Crime – Waste Risks: Gaps in Meeting the Global Waste Challenge” UNEP and GRID-Arendhal/Nairobi (2015), 67pp, ISBN: 978-82-7701-148-6

For more information, please refer to:

Website: www.brsmeas.org

BRS Secretariat

Kei Ohno Woodall, Programme Officer,

kei.ohno-woodall@brsmeas.org tel: +41-79-2333218

BRS Press

Charlie Avis, Public Information Officer

Charles.avis@brsmeas.org tel: +41-79-7304495

FAO

Christine Fuell, Senior Technical Officer, Rotterdam Secretariat, Rome:

Christine.fuell@fao.org tel: +39-06-57053765

FAO Press

George Kourous, Information Officer, FAO Rome:

George.kourous@fao.org tel: +39-06-57053168

 

Triple COPs on track amid calls for action
The second week of the Triple COPs is underway as parties respond to calls, including from UNEP Chief Achim Steiner, for action on urgent waste and chemicals issues

Triple COPs on track amid calls for action

Triple COPs on track amid calls for action
 
BRS App: the COPs in the palm of your hand
Use the interactive BRS App for keeping up with the debates and events

BRS App: the COPs in the palm of your hand

BRS App: the COPs in the palm of your hand
 
Last of our pre-COP Interviews: the three COP Coordinators
A look ahead to what to expect from the Triple COPs with Alain Wittig, Andrea Lechner, and Marylene Beau.

Last of our pre-COP Interviews: the three COP Coordinators

Last of our pre-COP Interviews: the three COP Coordinators



Countdown to the Triple COPs – Presidents’ Joint Meeting takes place in Geneva
The Presidents of the conferences of the parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions met on 21 April 2015 to finalize arrangements for the preparation of the upcoming Triple COPs

Countdown to the Triple COPs – Presidents’ Joint Meeting takes place in Geneva

Countdown to the Triple COPs – Presidents’ Joint Meeting takes place in Geneva



Countdown to the Triple COPs: FAO and the Rotterdam Convention
FAO’s Elisabetta Tagliati answers your questions on the Rotterdam Convention and the relationships between pesticides, agriculture and environment.

Countdown to the Triple COPs: FAO and the Rotterdam Convention

Countdown to the Triple COPs: FAO and the Rotterdam Convention

 

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