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Less than a year after its establishment, the new Plastic Waste Partnership of the Basel Convention meets for the first time at Beau Vallon, the Seychelles, from 2 to 5 March 2020.
First meeting of the new UN Plastic Waste Partnership takes place in the Seychelles
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The report of the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of Parties is now available online in the six UN languages.
Final Report of the Basel Convention’s COP-14 is now online
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Global seaborne operation on illegal waste dumping, led by INTERPOL, highlights the scale of plastic waste pollution
Month-long operation “30 Days at Sea 2.0” involves more than 200 enforcement agencies and detects more than 3,000 serious offences – land-based and maritime - across 61 countries
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The deadline for 2018 national reports is approaching. Parties can access the questionnaire for national reporting and submit it through the electronic reporting system.
Basel Convention 2018 national reports due 31 December 2019
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Watch live the special event in the UN Palais des Nations, which brings together many of the Convention’s 187 Parties to celebrate the strengthening of efforts for implementing this global, legally-binding, international agreement on waste.
Diplomatic community in Geneva marks the entry into force of the Basel Convention’s Ban Amendment
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High-level event on 25 November brings together key global stakeholders including the World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Bank, World Economic Forum (WEF), and China.
BRS Executive Secretary contributes to discussions on “what role for WTO on addressing plastic pollution” in Geneva
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The draft overall guidance document on the environmentally sound management of household waste is now available for comment by Parties and others, by 31 January 2020.
Household waste in the spotlight: opportunity to comment on Basel Convention guidance document
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Hot on the heels of the PWP launch in Geneva on 12 November, the first online consultation takes place on 13 November, chaired by the Co-Chairs, Mr. Ole Thomas Thommesen (Norway) and Mr. Ross Bartley (BIC).
First online consultation for working group of the new Basel Convention Plastic Waste Partnership
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The 3rd meeting of the expert working group takes place 5 to 8 November, 2019, with generous financial support from the governments of Germany, Norway, and Switzerland.
Experts gather in Bratislava, Slovakia, to continue their review of the Annexes to the Basel Convention
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As the 2019 Our Oceans conference concludes in Oslo, Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment, Mr Ole Elvestuen, confirms substantial support for efforts to tackle marine plastic litter.
Norway pledges funding for new Basel Convention Plastic Waste Partnership, which launches on 12 November
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Established by the Basel Convention COP in May, members and the diplomatic community gather to launch this new initiative at a special event hosted by the City of Geneva.
New UN Partnership on Plastic Waste launched in Geneva on 12 November, 2019
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A public/private partnership, technical guidelines on environmentally sound management, and a massive open online course are amongst the measures tackling e-waste, the world’s fastest growing hazardous waste stream.
On the occasion of the second International E-waste Day, read what Parties to the Basel Convention are doing to address this growing global problem
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The Basel Convention ENFORCE partnership met in Geneva from 30 September to 1 October, thanks to funding support from Norway.
International partnership of enforcement experts push forward on preventing illegal traffic of waste
The Environmental Network for Optimizing Regulatory Compliance on Illegal Traffic (ENFORCE) staged its 11th Meeting in Geneva from 30 September to 1 October, 2019, with funding support kindly provided by the Government of Norway.
As well as Basel Convention Parties representing their regions, the partnership includes representatives from of the Basel Convention Regional Centres, and organizations with a specific mandate to deliver implementation and enforcement capacity-building activities for preventing and combating illegal traffic of hazardous wastes and other wastes under the Basel Convention, such as UNEP, IMPEL, the International Criminal Police Organisation – INTERPOL - and the World Customs Organisation.
Members and observers exchanged information on their activities which will be included in the roadmap of activities for 2019-2020. ENFORCE also agreed to continue collecting training tools developed by its members as well as under the framework of the Basel Convention which will be made available through an online library on the Basel Convention website later this year.
Click here to read more information on the meeting and on ENFORCE.
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With waste the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day, Antonio Guterres highlights the role of frontier technologies to transform waste into wealth, and stresses the need to reduce waste in the first place.
UN Secretary General calls for increased investment in waste management
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With waste the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day, Antonio Guterres highlights the role of frontier technologies to transform waste into wealth, and stresses the need to reduce waste in the first place.
BRS Executive Secretary urges strong cooperation between chemicals and waste and regional seas conventions
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The final evaluation of the Convention’s Strategic Framework for implementation for 2012-2021 is underway, and Parties are asked to submit information by 31 January 2020.
Parties invited to provide information to improve Basel Convention implementation
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The BRS Secretariat is still accepting applications for membership to the follow-up partnership to the Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment (PACE), and also inviting comments on the new work programme and terms of reference, with deadline 30 September 2019.
E-waste: Deadline approaching for the Basel Convention’s follow-up partnership to PACE
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Building on the recent Basel Convention plastic waste amendment, a new Norwegian-funded initiative has begun, with inception meetings in Dhaka for experts and stakeholders, 18 to 19 September, 2019.
New plastic waste project underway in Bangladesh
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Dakar, Senegal, hosts a capacity-building workshop for governments and other stakeholders working towards the sound management of chemicals and waste, including plastic waste. Funding support kindly provided by the Government of France.
More than 100 participants attend regional meeting to boost implementation of the Basel and Rotterdam conventions in Africa
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Read Rolph Payet’s guest blog on plastic waste and the oceans and how the Basel Convention’s Plastic Waste Amendment can contribute to tackling the problem.
Plastic waste and the oceans: new guest blog by BRS Executive Secretary for the World Ocean Initiative
More than 300m tonnes of plastics are produced every year and the majority is not recycled. This leaves us with colossal amounts of plastic waste. Some of this is disposed of properly, but in many regions plastic waste is dumped on land and in rivers, eventually finding its way to our oceans”. So began the BRS Executive Secretary Rolph Payet in a Guest Blog on plastic waste, oceans and the Basel Convention’s 2019 Plastic Waste Amendment for The Economist’s World Ocean Initiative, published 13 September 2019.
Click here to read the article.
Click here for more info on The Economist’s World Ocean Initiative.
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At the recent regional High-Level Minister’s Talanoa in Apia, Samoa, Pacific countries welcomed the recent amendments to the Convention and urged action on implementing the new controls.
Pacific countries welcome the Basel Convention’s Plastic Waste Amendment
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With Croatia’s recent ratification of the @UN Basel Convention’s Ban Amendment, the threshold has now been reached, strengthening the prohibition of unwanted shipments of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries. Entry-into-force is 5 December 2019. Official Press Release to follow.
Basel Convention’s Ban Amendment to enter-into-force
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The second meeting of the Household Waste Partnership takes place in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 4 to 6 September.
Household waste challenge takes centre stage as Basel Convention stakeholders meet in Trinidad
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The meeting report of the recent COP-14 is now accessible (Advance English version).
Meeting report from the recent Basel Convention COP now available
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Parties and observers are kindly invited to respond to requests from the recent COP-14, for follow-up to the decisions taken by Parties in Geneva, in May.
Follow-up to recent Basel Convention COP decisions for sound management of wastes, including actions to address plastic waste
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