Highlights and images for 30 April 2019

Switzerland

Summary

Highlights for Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Members of civil society distribute crackers with eggs, highlighting that eating just 2.5g of egg from a hen foraging in e-waste dumping grounds of Agbogbloshie, Ghana, contains the equivalent of the daily intake of dioxins for 15 people

BRS COPs On Tuesday, delegates to the 2019 meetings of the Conferences of the Parties (COP) to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions devoted most of the day to issues of concern to two or more of the Conventions, including international cooperation and coordination, financial resources, and programme of work and budget. In the late afternoon, they turned their attention to Stockholm Convention-specific work, including listing of chemicals.In the joint sessions of the three COPs, participants spent significant time on an initial exchange of views on compliance under the Rotterdam Convention, a long-standing issue which has narrowly eluded consensus in recent years. Many emphasized the need for progress toward establishment of a compliance mechanism at this meeting, building on past support for a facilitative, non-punitive approach.In the late afternoon, delegates discussed the Stockholm Convention’s evaluation of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts, and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOS, its salts, and PFOSF). Under this item, most delegates supported the recommendation of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to eliminate several acceptable purposes and specific exemptions for continued production and use of this industrial chemical.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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Morning Plenary
View of the dais during the morning plenary
Mohammed Khashashneh, Stockholm Convention COP9 President
Juan Simonelli, Chair of the Implementation and Compliance Committee (ICC) of the Basel Convention
Yousif Muayad Yousif, Iraq
Omar Samba Bah, the Gambia
Vadim Pisarevich, Belarus
Jacob Duer, Chief, Chemicals and Health Branch, Economy Division, UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
Angela Patricia Rivera Galvis, Colombia
Elsa Ferreras de Sánchez, Dominican Republic
Jefferson Nyandibo, Liberia
Christina Paradiso, Canada
Atsushi Iwasaki, Japan
Aïta Sarr Seck, Senegal
Contact Groups
Contact Group on Listing of Chemicals in the Stockholm Convention
Contact Group on Programme of Work and Budget
Contact Group on Technical Assistance and Financial Resources
Afternoon Plenary
View of plenary from the dais
Osvaldo Álvarez-Pérez, Rotterdam Convention COP9 President
Elizabeth Mrema, UNEP, and Eve Fontaine-Benedetti, Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO)
Sverre Thomas Jahre, Norway
Glenn Wigley, New Zealand
Camila Corali Alva Estabridis, Peru
Mu Song Rim, Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Andrew Clark, US
Baskut Tuncak, Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of hazardous substances and wastes
Rossana Silva Repetto, Executive Secretary, Minamata Convention
Meriel Watts, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia-Pacific
David Azoulay, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Around the Venue
Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, BRS Conventions, and Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, Indonesia, sign a 10 year extension of the framework agreement for the Basel Convention Regional Centre in Indonesia
Members of the BRS Secretariat on the podium with Osvaldo Álvarez-Pérez, Rotterdam Convention COP9 President
Delegates between sessions
A delegate visits the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) website to keep track of negotiations
Delegates from Namibia speak informally
Manoj Kumar Gangeya, India
Materials on display