Highlights and images for 7 May 2025

One surprise of the day was surely the listing of fenthion in Annex III to the Rotterdam Convention (RC), making it subject to the prior informed consent procedure. The substance had lingered on the Conference of the Parties' (COP) agenda for 10 years. Used for pest control on quelea quelea birds, a common pest in Sub-Saharan Africa, fenthion is highly effective, but also highly toxic. Its listing as a severely hazardous pesticide formulation will enable informed decision making and strengthen environmental and health protection.

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

Unfortunately, the deadlock on listing chrysotile asbestos continued. Recognized as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization, chrysotile asbestos has been on the RC COP agenda for 20 years now – the longest dragging listing proposed by the Chemical Review Committee to date. Despite the heartfelt pleas from countries, unions, and environmental organizations, some parties that are major producers of chrysotile asbestos remained unyielding. The issue will be considered again at the next COP.

As the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions COPs quickly approach the finish line, several contact groups concluded their work. The Basel Convention contact group on technical work decided to include textiles in the work programme of the Open-Ended Working Group. This means that the Basel Convention will pick up this challenging waste stream and start a lengthy process of defining what can be considered textile waste and how the Convention can respond.

Traceability and data management were key themes for side events on Wednesday: one explored persistent organic pollutants and chemicals in plastics, and another mercury in products. Other side events covered biodiversity-friendly pest control alternatives to highly hazardous pesticides and global approaches to waste management.

With two days of the TripleCOPs remaining, delegates are anxiously waiting for the Stockholm Convention plenary to adopt already finalized decisions, especially the remaining ones on listings. The contact group worked relentlessly for over 30 hours to clear decisions, including on medium-chain chlorinated paraffins and UV-328, and many hope they will receive the plenary’s stamp of approval.