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.
Events and Articles
Showing 61 - 70 of 205 results
4th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-4)
Parties adopted two essential decisions: the 2022 programme of work and budget, and setting 21-25 March 2022 as the dates for COP-4.2 in person in Bali, Indonesia.
17th Meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-17)
After a meeting dominated by questions about what constitutes a risk evaluation under the Rotterdam Convention, the Committee decided that two of the four chemicals considered met the criteria for listing banned or severely restricted chemicals. The others will be considered at the next meeting in 2022.
An IPCC for Chemicals and Wastes?
This week, global attention turned to the dire warnings of climate scientists. This is becoming a routine.
2021 Meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS COPs)
Parties and stakeholders to the three global hazardous chemicals and wastes conventions convened online to deal with urgent operational and substantive work including election of officers, the programmes of work and budgets for all three conventions, and a decision regarding the Stockholm Convention’s financial mechanism.
Berlin Forum on Chemicals and Sustainability
Many participants raised the need for a science-policy interface (SPI) on chemicals and wastes—noting any such body should be global, authoritative, “horizon scanning,” prestigious, independent and inclusive.
Berlin Forum Press Conference
Stressing that banning or regulating individual chemicals is insufficient, the event called for fundamental regulations that apply to all chemicals at the global level.
60th Meeting of the GEF Council
The 60th meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council adopted a Work Program worth USD 281.1 million that includes eight stand-alone full-sized projects on international waters, four on biodiversity, three on climate change mitigation, and two on chemicals and waste.
16th Meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to the Stockholm Convention (POPRC-16)
With three potential persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under review and substantial technical work related to implementation of its past recommendations, the Committee successfully completed its full pre-COVID-19 pandemic agenda to avoid delaying action on issues that pose risks to human health and/or the environment.
59th Meeting of the GEF Council
The Council meetings included extensive discussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, deliberating the pandemic’s impact on project management, and considered a white paper by the GEF COVID-19 Task Force outlining how environmental action can reduce future threats of disease outbreak. The GEF Council also endorsed a new private sector engagement strategy, outlining how the GEF will work in a systematic manner with industry groups, companies, and investors to reverse unsustainable global trends and deliver global environmental benefits.
4th Meeting of the Ad-hoc Open-ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics (AHEG-4)
The key focus of the delegates was to discuss and agree on a Chair’s Summary to inform the fifth meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) on how best to tackle marine litter and microplastics.