The project on Implementing chemicals and waste multilateral environmental agreements in Asia through enhancing understanding and building capacity has been executed by the Chemicals and Health Branch since 2019, by partnering with different stakeholders, such as the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS) Secretariat, the Minamata Convention Secretariat, the Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and Pacific located in China (BCRC China) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
This project was developed because the volume of chemicals manufactured and used continues to grow, with a shift in production from highly industrialized countries towards developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Increased international co-operation is needed to eliminate or reduce the use of toxic chemicals, to promote the development and adoption of safer alternatives, and to build capacity for the management of chemicals at every stage of their lifecycle, including disposal. In this regard, it is important that existing national laws and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) for the sound management of hazardous chemicals and wastes are fully implemented. Public availability of adequate information about hazardous chemicals and waste is essential to support these efforts. On top of this, the need to facilitate and track national reporting will grow stronger under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in 12.4.1, “Number of Parties to MEAs that meet their commitments and obligations in transmitting information as required by each agreement”.
This project aims to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders in Asia in sound chemicals management through better understanding of alternatives while meeting requirements of chemicals and waste conventions and SDGs. China, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam were selected to be the target countries considering their willingness and needs.
According to the proposed project activity, we held an inception workshop to identify the specific needs for the Asia Pacific Region, which took place in June 2019.
After several rounds of targeted interviews using questionnaires and in-person discussions, a baseline report for each country was developed. Meanwhile, a report was developed on mapping the legal framework, standards and institutional capacities designed to manage and control the chemical waste management sectors in the selected Asian countries. This was followed by a gap assessment. The focus of this report applies to the Basel and Stockholm Conventions.
Through analysing the baseline reports and the corresponding gap assessments, UNEP has been jointly developing a series of online courses on Mercury in Products, PFAS, as well as Plastics in order to help countries become familiar with the conventions, and in turn, to better fulfil their commitments.
The relevant capacity building activities and training will be organized soon. Please stay tuned.
