Article 7 of the Convention requires Parties to develop and endeavour to implement a plan for the implementation of their obligations under the Convention, and to transmit their plan to the Conference of the Parties, within two years of the date in which the Convention has entered into force for the Party.
The implementation status of the Convention varies among countries of the region depending on the date of ratification for each country. Whereas some Parties have already transmitted their national implementation plans to the Conference of the Parties, a number of them are still in the process of developing it. As a consequence, the workshop promoted the exchange of experience from different countries in developing and implementing national plans as well as to review technical and financial assistance opportunities.
The workshop also offered an opportunity to review the role of a Party under the Convention as well as a number of topics to be considered by the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties on 04-08 May 2009.
Workshop Highlights
The workshop, which was co-organised with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP), gathered a total of 14 participants from 12 country Parties from the Pacific, as well as NGOs and public institutions.
During three days, the following topics were presented and discussed:
- lessons learned and good practices when developing and implementing national implementation plans, in particular identifying national/regional priorities and actions to be undertaken,
- accessing technical and financial assistance opportunities under the Stockholm Convention, including the capacity building and the transfer of technologies through the nominated Stockholm Convention centres, as well as financial resources available under the Convention’s financial mechanism.
- upcoming considerations for the fourth Conference of the Parties, such as listing of chemicals, synergies between the chemicals-related Conventions, and relevant issues on technical assistance.
The workshop gathered 12 Parties’ representatives, two representatives from civil society (NGO and University), two representatives from SPREP and representatives from the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention
Participants appreciated the opportunity given to share their experiences with the implementation of their national implementation plan and the forum offered to their sub-region to discuss upcoming decisions for COP-4.