Recognized as one of the world’s oldest countries, Armenia offers a rich and ancient culture. Situated between Europe and Asia, it hosts an array of diverse landscapes, from lush forests and snow-capped mountain peaks to barren terrain and the densely-populated capital city of Yerevan. Between the longstanding heritage and natural beauty, there is much to see and even more to protect in Armenia.
Understanding this, a robust chemicals and waste management plan is a stated priority of the country’s government. Ratifying the Basel (1999), Rotterdam (2003), Stockholm (2003) conventions and the Minamata Convention in 2017, Armenia has made significant strides to protect environmental and human health over the last decade.
But various challenges have slowed this momentum, including weak chemicals regulation legislation, insufficient waste handling capacity, and low public and industry awareness about impacts of hazardous chemicals.
To address these gaps, Armenia is launching a multifaceted, three-year project supported by the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Chemicals and Waste Management Programme. This move is crucial not only to support the wellbeing of its nearly 3 million citizens but also for economic reasons.
The first phase of the project will involve creating a National Inter-Agency Coordination Mechanism (NCM). Helmed by staff from ministries involved in chemicals and waste management, it will serve to consolidate and replace a number of existing committees that currently operate independently.
Through combining the knowledge, strategies, and capabilities of various ministries to address waste and chemicals management, the NCM will have better success in solving issues coherently. One problem the NCM will immediately tackle is the sound management of mining ore waste. The country has a developed mining sector for gold, copper, silver and other metals. However, it requires improvement of environmental oversight.
As part of the project’s objectives, the newly established NCM will also update Armenia’s National Chemicals Management Profile. Created in 2004, and last updated in 2016 to address nanoparticles, the profile will soon include new chemicals regulated under different conventions. This step is key to building a comprehensive national policy on the sound management of chemicals and waste and setting new goals and targets.
Once the NCM and National Chemicals Management Profile are fully established, the difficult work of strengthening national legislation related to chemicals and wastes will be possible. Initial work tied to legislation will focus on updating the list of persistent organic pollutants banned under the Stockholm Convention, expanding the list of chemicals regulated by the Rotterdam Convention, and developing a Strategy on Hazardous Waste Management. After creating lists and strategies, Armenia plans to introduce an Extended Producer Responsibility concept (EPR) by 2023.
EPR is a policy and practice that holds producers and importers responsible for the environmental impacts of their products. The idea is that businesses will be incentivized to design more environmentally-friendly supply chains if they are absorbing the financial or physical responsibility of their products. Given the widespread problems associated with plastic waste, it is hoped that the business community and lawmakers will quickly come together to find sustainable solutions to address this proven threat. The first anticipated law will be on banning plastic bags, once the success of a pilot study supporting such a law has been established.
The last goal of the project will be key to its overall success: building public awareness around the importance of effective chemicals and waste management to better protect vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women.
Beyond hosting awareness-raising meetings throughout Armenia, the government and its partners will offer training and a host of informational materials on the harmful impacts of chemicals and waste on human health and the environment.
Armenia hopes its efforts to manage hazardous chemicals and waste will set the stage for continued and improved protection of both public health and natural resources.
For further information please contact the Special Programme Secretariat at unepchemicalsspecialprogramme@un.org
