The Annual joint meeting of Regional Centres under the Basel and Stockholm Conventions takes place in Geneva on 27-28 November 2014.

At their joint meeting on 11-12 November, the bureaux successfully laid foundations for the forthcoming COPs. An advance version of the schedule is now available.

Parties have been officially informed of the back-to-back meetings of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions COPs to be held in Geneva, 4-15 May 2015.

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Comments are sought on the Manual for the implementation of the Convention and on the classification of compliance performance with national reporting.

Scoring a goal for environmentally sound management of wastes, Colombia’s action raises the total number of Parties to the Ban Amendment to 79.

Join the Webinars on Chemicals under Review by POPRC, 6 May, and enhancing PCB inventories, 13 and 15 May 2014.

Since April 2014, Kerstin has served as Executive Secretary ad interim of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.

Kerstin joined the Secretariat as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions in November 2012.

INTERPOL and the BRS Secretariat launch e-learning module to help law enforcement officers identify and prevent illegal trade in hazardous chemicals and wastes

Training contributes to gender and regional diversity in conventions’ corps of highly qualified chairpersons

The Pilot training session on chairing meetings of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) conventions took place in Glion, Switzerland, from 3 to 5 March 2014. The training was conducted by the Institute of Advanced Studies of the United Nations University in cooperation with the Secretariat. It brought together 17 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the Cook Islands, Ecuador, Egypt, Georgia, Indonesia, Japan, Malawi, Poland, the Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan, and Switzerland.

The participants benefited from experience of former chairs who led various BRS processes, including the conferences of the parties, meetings of subsidiary bodies, contact groups and informal consultations. Through the combination of lectures, case studies, videos and simulation exercises the participants learned firsthand how to effectively chair intergovernmental meetings and guide them toward consensual outcomes.

“The pilot raining extends the conventions’ corps of highly qualified chairpersons, ensuring that we can call upon experienced chairs from all regions, while maintaining gender and regional diversity among them,” said Kerstin Stendahl, BRS Deputy Executive Secretary.

The training session was held through the generous support of the Government of Switzerland.

Colombia’s Paula Caballero Gómez is recognized as having been instrumental in the early conceptualization and promotion of Sustainable Development Goals.

The accession of São Tomé and Príncipe raises the number of Parties to the Convention to 181.

The Global workshop on 18 – 19 February 2014 is being organized with the support of BCRC-South Africa.

Global initiative to promote the protection of human health and livelihood through the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes worldwide is accepting nominations by 31 December 2014.

From the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

At annual joint meeting Regional Centres of the Basel and Stockholm conventions exchange plans for evaluating performance and sustainability

Launch of the WIPO Patent Landscape Report on e-Waste Recycling Technologies, International Environment House II, 12 December 2013

The final report has been published in the six official languages of the United Nations.