The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions are multilateral environmental agreements, which share the common objective of protecting human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals and wastes.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was created to protect people and the environment from the negative effects of the inappropriate management of hazardous wastes worldwide. It is the most comprehensive global treaty dealing with hazardous waste materials throughout their lifecycles, from production and transport to final use and disposal.

UNITAR has executed several projects, providing capacity building services related to the ratification of the Ban Amendment to the Basel Convention. As a result, both Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea have ratified the Amendment.

UNITAR activities 2016-2017

• Closing workshop of the Ban Amendment project in Guinea – 21 & 22 April 2016

Opportunities

With approximately five ratifications (from the Parties at the time of adoption of the amendment) needed for the Ban Amendment to the Basel Convention to come into force, UNITAR is looking for funding opportunities to support national projects. These national projects build capacity of stakeholders in relation to the Amendment and the process towards ratification.

The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for certain hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in international trade provides Parties with a first line of defence against hazardous chemicals. It promotes international efforts to protect human health and the environment as well as enabling countries to decide if they want to import hazardous chemicals and pesticides listed in the Convention.

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from highly dangerous, long-lasting chemicals by restricting and ultimately eliminating their production, use, trade, release and storage.

UNITAR has supported a large number of countries to implement the Convention including:

• executing, in coordination with UNIDO and the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention, key components of a GEF project - Development of the Guidelines for updating of National Implementation Plans (NIPs) under the Stockholm Convention (to access the guidance, please click here).
• training on action plan development for Stockholm Convention NIPs for over 50 countries
• capacity building in relation to development of NIPs
• executing a GEF-funded project, in cooperation with UNEP, to design and implement national pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) as effective tools to report releases
• executing a GEF-funded project, in cooperation with UNIDO, to eliminate PCBs in Ghana

Current activities supported by UNITAR include:

• developing GEF proposals with countries to address various issues under the Convention including PCBs, unintentionally produced POPs, obsolete POPs pesticides, and new POPs
• executing a GEF-funded project (2015-2018), in cooperation with UNEP, to implement fully operational PRTR systems in Belarus, Cambodia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Peru, and showcase these systems as effective tools to report releases of POPs
• assisting UNEP (in 2016-2018) in the execution of the GEF Project “Continuing Regional Support for the POPs Global Monitoring Plan under the Stockholm Convention in the African Region, the Asian Region, the Latin American and Caribbean Region, and the Pacific Region”

Development of the Guidelines for updating of National Implementation Plans (NIPs) under the Stockholm Convention 

In coordination with UNIDO and the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention, UNITAR executed key components of a GEF project - Development of the Guidelines for updating of National Implementation Plans (NIPs) - under the Stockholm Convention. The guidance developed under this project is available on the Stockholm Convention Secretariat's website. For more information, please click here.