Once established, global organizations can be slow to change. This is why the decisions made at this meeting are all the more important – they can shape the new science-policy panel’s work for years to come. At the same time, chemicals, waste, and pollution are dynamic areas. Knowledge evolves, industry innovates, and policy demands grow and shift in light of these changes. The panel may need to be agile, but will have to build on the foundations set at this meeting.
Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.
Deciding who participates can affect the range of knowledge and information considered in the future panel’s reports. Hearing a range of views can raise the policy relevance of the panel. After an agreement on several operating principles, it looks like the new panel will be able to include a wide range of knowledge. The panel will be interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and consider sectoral, Indigenous, and workers’ expertise. Chemicals, waste, and pollution disproportionately affect women, Indigenous Peoples, children, and other often marginalized groups. The panel may be able to benefit from their experience and knowledge, and also that of industry groups that hold specialized expertise.
It’s still unclear if members of the Interdisciplinary Expert Committee (IEC) will have policy expertise. The IEC will be an advisory body to the panel and will help ensure robust peer review of the panel’s work. Policy expertise in the IEC could help the panel respond to the policy needs of countries and other international bodies. But, for some, the focus should be squarely on providing scientific and technical advice to the panel’s plenary and bureau.
The future panel will also have a trust fund to support its work. Delegates debated if they should specify rules for its contributions. Some worried that donor countries could earmark funding for some activities over others, which could mean the panel’s work would reflect priorities of the Global North more than those of the Global South. There was sympathy for this view by many countries, including donors. But it can also be very technical, because some countries must specify how funding would be used to get approval to provide it.
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All ENB photos are free to use with attribution. For photos of this side event, please use: Photo by IISD/ENB - Angeles Estrada Vigil
Plenary
Isabelle Mayr and Anna Marie Muise, Canada
Contact Group 3 Co-Facilitator Itsuki Kuroda (Japan)
Zavaka Yaris, Honduras
Daniel Vargas Anda, Ecuador
Oleg Senchenko, Russian Federation
Kirving Lañas Ramos, Panama
Divya Mala, Fiji
Contact Group 3 Co-Facilitator Sam Adu-Kumi (Ghana)
Adoum Abdallah Younous, Chad
Benjamin Maxwell Arapoiti, Cook Islands
Osvaldo Álvarez-Pérez, Chile, and Isabelle Mayr, Canada
Sara Hassan, Egypt
Luciana Melchert, Brazil
Tessa Goverse, Principle Coordinator, Secretariat, and Kaai Tung Chan, Secretariat
Maria AlJishi, Saudi Arabia
Ivo de Zwaan, the Netherlands
Heidi Morka, Norway, and Rikke Donchil Holmberg, Denmark
Iman Fadhil Nassar, Iraq
Contact Groups
Contact Group 3 Co-Facilitator Itsuki Kuroda (Japan) and Leonie Geene, Secretariat
Mamaboloka Kibiti, Lesotho
Christina Charlotte Tolfsen, Norway
Janna Radi, Greenish Foundation for Development
Michel Tschirren, Switzerland
Afsaneh Hassani, Iran
Elizabeth Nichols, US
Mathieu Ortega, UK
Océane Dayer, Switzerland
Luis Francisco Sanchez Otero, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
Sonia Buftheim, Nexus3 Foundation
Contact Group 2 Co-Facilitator Kateřina Šebková, Czechia
Between Sessions
Around the Venue
