BRS Conventions COP Meet in Geneva

• 10 May 2019

• The “Triple COPs”  meeting is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 29th to May 10th, 2019.
  • Basel Convention (COP-14)
  • Rotterdam Convention (COP-9)
  • Stockholm Convention (COP-9)
• The “Triple COPs” are being convened under the theme, 'Clean Planet, Healthy People: Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste’.

Issues under discussion

• BRS “Triple COPs”: is discussing issues relating to microplastics, waste containing nanomaterials, and legal, compliance and governance matters, among others.
  • The meeting is also considering further development of technical guidelines on e-waste as well as persistent organic pollutants wastes, incineration on land and specially engineered landfills and additions to the Convention’s Toolkit on Environmentally Sound Management of Wastes.
  • It is taking up various matters related to the implementation of the Convention, including the strategic framework, entry into force of the Ban Amendment, and the Cartagena Declaration on the Prevention, Minimization and Recovery of Hazardous Wastes and Other Wastes.

The Basel Convention: came into force in 1992, intends to reduce transboundary movements of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs), and ensure their safe disposal as closely as possible to the source of generation.

Rotterdam Convention: was adopted on 10th September 1998 by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rotterdam, Netherlands and entered into force on 24th February 2004.

• It covers pesticides and industrial chemicals that have been banned or severely restricted for health or environmental reasons by Parties and which have been notified by Parties for inclusion in the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. The Convention creates legally binding obligations for the implementation of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure.

The Stockholm Convention: is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and are toxic to humans and wildlife.

• The objectives of the Stockholm Convention are:
  • Support the transition to safer alternatives
  • Target additional POPs for action
  • Cleanup old stockpiles and equipment containing POPs
  • Work together for a POPs-free future
• The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is the designated interim financial mechanism for the Stockholm Convention.