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.
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Events and Articles
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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.
16th Meeting of the Chemical Review Committee (CRC-16)
During this virtual meeting, the Committee finalized its work on two industrial chemicals: decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds. The CRC agreed to recommend that the Conference of the Parties (COP) list both industrial chemicals in Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention.
12th Meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (OEWG12)
The online meeting featured robust discussions on what more the Basel Convention should do on plastic wastes, waste lead-acid batteries, and transboundary e-waste shipments.
58th Meeting of the GEF Council
The Global Environment Facility Council's 58th meeting appointed a new CEO and Chairperson. Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Costa Rica's Environment and Energy Minister, will lead the GEF, with Naoko Ishii leaving after eight years. The GEF Council also agreed a work program with resources totaling USD 645.4 million. The GEF Council met online for the first time due to COVID-19.
57th Meeting of the GEF Council
The 57th meeting of the Global Environment Facility Council adopted a Work Program, comprising 48 projects and five programs, with total resources amounting to USD 588.5 million. The Council discussed a proposed private sector engagement strategy and heard updates by the Conventions on activities leading up to “super year 2020."
3rd Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP3)
The third meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury focused on achieving the smooth functioning of an international treaty body as well as substantive and technical issues aimed at fostering action to address mercury production and use around the world.