Summary
Highlights for Monday, 6 May 2019
On Monday, delegates to the 2019 meetings of the Conferences of the Parties (COP) to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions convened for the second week and continued work related to implementation of the Basel Convention. Participants made swift progress through many of the outstanding items of the agenda, adopting decisions on, inter alia, technical guidelines on environmentally sound management (ESM) of waste lead-acid batteries and wastes consisting of, containing, or contaminated with mercury or mercury compounds.Contact groups met throughout the day on strategic matters, technical matters, plastics, compliance and legal issues, and budget. In the plastics group, participants considered, among other issues, proposed language to amend Annexes II, VIII, and IX, and sought to clarify and define key terms such as “mixed wastes.” The group on strategic matters completed its mandate on the follow-up to the Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment, and will present its outcomes to plenary on Tuesday. In the technical matters contact group, discussions continued on proposed cooperation with the World Customs Organization on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, with many participants calling for plastic waste to be included in the System.As delegates closed in on the end of Basel Convention COP14, many commented on how efficiently the work has been carried out so far under both the Stockholm and Basel Conventions. While a few challenging issues remain, most discussions have been characterized by deliberate movement toward consensus. Several have expressed hope that this approach will continue when delegates turn their attention to the Rotterdam Convention on Tuesday morning.For more details on the day's events and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our Earth Negotiations Bulletin.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage, daily reports, and a summary and analysis report from the 2019 Meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. The summary and analysis report is available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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Plenary: Basel Convention
Contact Groups
Around the Venue
