Chemicals & Wastes

Chemicals & Wastes

When used improperly or disposed of unsafely, chemicals pose significant risks for both the environment and human health. Toxic chemicals are found in all ecosystems on Earth, including Antarctica and the most remote seas, affecting biodiversity, agricultural production, water quality, and human health. Over 100 million man-made chemicals and chemical formulations are used in every sector of the industrial economy. Many chemicals, such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury, travel over large distances through air, water currents, and in migratory species. Some POPs can remain in the human body for more than 50 years. Mercury, an element, is infinitely persistent. While chemicals and waste are major contributors to world economies, their sound management is essential to avoiding risks to human health and ecosystems and substantial costs to national economies.

62nd Meeting of the GEF Council

GEF Council Members endorsed the more than USD 5 billion replenishment for the next four-year period of the GEF and adopted Work Programs worth more than USD 238 million, launching projects that will contribute to a green and blue recovery and direct significant resources to small island developing States and least developed countries.

Event 21 June 2022 - 23 June 2022

Face-to-Face Meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS COPs)

The Basel Convention flexed its institutional muscle, while the Rotterdam Convention managed to add just two of the seven chemicals proposed to its prior informed consent procedure. The Stockholm Convention continued to list new chemicals, but it now faces the downstream consequences of that success: new chemicals bring added implementation challenges.

Conference of the Parties (COP) 6 June 2022 - 17 June 2022

Ad hoc Open-ended Working Group to Prepare for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to End Plastic Pollution

Governments took the first steps toward a new international treaty on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, as they set out the schedule of negotiations and rules of procedure, and convened multi-stakeholder dialogues on the scope of the plastics pollution problem.

Event 29 May 2022 - 1 June 2022

Resumed Session of the 12th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention (OEWG-12)

Meeting face-to-face for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, parties tackled key issues to address prior to the face-to-face segment of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in June 2022. Issues discussed included plastic waste, electronic waste, waste lead-acid batteries, and mercury waste.

Event 4 April 2022 - 6 April 2022

4th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (2nd Part)

Parties adopted 12 decisions, including on artisanal and small-scale mining, phasing out products containing mercury, waste containing mercury, and the effectiveness evaluation of the Convention, that have set the course of implementation of the Minamata Convention in the years to come.

Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 March 2022 - 25 March 2022

Specific International Programme: Achievements and Impacts of Five Projects from Around the World

As the next COP of the Minamata Convention on Mercury approaches, project managers from Armenia, Argentina, Lesotho, Iran, and Moldova shared lessons learned from grants meant to support capacity building and technical assistance to reach their Convention obligations.

Event 9 March 2022

Big Data for the Planet Breakfast and Ministerial Dialogue: The Next 50 Years

The event formally launched the Data for the Environment Alliance, which promotes cooperation and synergies on environmental data and solutions between state and non-state actors.

Event 4 March 2022

UNEA Flagship Side Events

During the resumed Fifth Session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), side events focused on “Strengthening actions for nature to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals” and the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Event 28 February 2022 - 4 March 2022

UNEA-5.2, OECPR-5.2 and UNEP@50

Member States adopted 14 resolutions, including to negotiate an international treaty to address plastic pollution and establish a science-policy panel to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution, while celebrating the 50th birthday of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Event 21 February 2022 - 4 March 2022

17th Meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to the Stockholm Convention (POPRC-17)

The Committee successfully adopted decisions on all six chemicals under review and either moved them on to the next stage of the review process or adopted recommendations to the Conference of the Parties to list them under the Stockholm Convention.

Event 24 January 2022 - 28 January 2022

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