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.
Upcoming events
67th Meeting of the GEF Council
The Council of the Global Environment Facility will consider funding for a wide variety of projects and programs, including the first projects financed by the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund.
14th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention
Parties attending OEWG-14 in Geneva will consider a draft renewed strategic framework to boost implementation of the Convention, including ensuring environmentally sound management of waste—especially of newly emerging waste streams such as those containing nanomaterials.
Events and Articles
Showing 41 - 50 of 200 results
18th Meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-18)
The Chemical Review Committee faced a lengthy agenda as it reviewed a dozen hazardous chemicals and pesticides to determine if they should be listed under the Rotterdam Convention’s prior informed consent procedure, which could limit their trade, if deemed necessary to protect human health and the environment.
Can Global Chemicals Governance Help Phaseouts in Other Sectors?
“Forever chemicals,” aka PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are now mainstream news (for example in the Washington Post and on BBC). Yet, comprehensive discussion of the impacts of chemicals on our environment and health tends to be confined to dedicated outlets and niche literature.
4th Meeting of the Intersessional Process for Considering SAICM and the Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste Beyond 2020
Participants made progress on the outline for a future framework on chemicals and waste to guide global efforts for years to come, and agreed to reconvene in early 2023 for further deliberations to enable the framework’s adoption at the International Conference on Chemicals Management in September 2023.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.