The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions present at the <br/>Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting (IPM) for the 19th Session of the<br/> UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-19)

New York, USA, 28 February - 4 March 2011

The Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting (IPM) of the 19th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-19) took place at the UN headquarters in New York on 28 February-4 March 2011. 

The IPM’s role was to provide a forum to discuss policy options to foster progress in the five thematic issues under consideration and produce a draft negotiating text to be adopted at CSD-19 on 2-13 May 2011 in New York. Two of the thematic issues being reviewed are chemicals and wastes and relate directly to the work of the Secretariats of the Basel; Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions.

Panel discussions: Chemicals and wastes

1st March - During the session on chemicals, Donald Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention and co-Executive Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention, highlighted four key sustainable solutions in this field: strengthening the governance framework, including promoting a more unified international framework, following the example of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions; mainstreaming sound chemicals management into development agendas; promoting SCP; and public-private partnerships.

Presentation

Sustainable solutions for the sound management of chemicals. Donald Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention


2nd March - Katarina Kummer Peiry, Executive Secretary of the Basel Convention, participated as panelist in the discussions on wastes management held on Wednesday 2 March.

Side Event: Promoting Economic and Social Benefits of Sound Management of Chemicals and Wastes

1st March - In the margins of IPM, the conventions organised a side-event on Promoting Economic and Social Benefits of Sound Management of Chemicals and Wastes, in partnership with UNEP Chemicals and UNDP. The panelists highlighted the benefits for countries of investing in this field and presented several pathways to leverage financial resources.

Presentations

Cutting Costs while Introducing Safer Chemicals: the Case of DDT. Donald Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention

Economic Opportunities in Sound Management of Chemicals and Wastes. Katarina Kummer Peiry, Executive Secretary of the Basel Convention

Promoting the assessment of the full economic impact of chemicals: Initial findings on the Cost of Inaction. Kaj Madsen, Senior Programme Officer, UNEP Chemicals

Advancing the implementation of sustainable development: <br/>The 18th and 19th sessions of the UN Commission on</br> Sustainable Development (CSD)

The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1992 to ensure effective follow-up to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit). CSD is responsible for reviewing the progress in the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development as well as providing policy guidance to follow up the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) at the local, national, regional and international levels.

In its 2010-2011 cycle, the CSD is considering the issues of chemicals, waste management, transportation, mining and sustainable consumption & production patterns. The cycle commences with the review of thematic issues (18th session of the CSD in 2010; CSD-18) and concludes with the adoption of policy recommendations (19th session of the CSD in 2011; CSD-19). In the area of chemicals, the work of the Commission specifically focus on reviewing progress and identifying policy actions in achieving the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2020 goal on sound management of chemicals.

UN DESA CSD-18 website
UN DESA CSD-19 website

Practices in the Sound Management of Chemicals

The publication "Practices in the Sound Management of Chemicals" was officially launched during the 18th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-18) in May 2010. The publication aims at facilitating the work of the Commission in reviewing progress made towards the implementation of Agenda 21, in particular Chapter 19 related to Chemicals.

By outlining current trends, emerging issues and priority areas in the field of chemicals management, the publication allows for a better understanding on how the sound management of chemicals is central to sustainable development and the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The publication also makes the case for scaling up the experiences and good practices presented in more than 15 case studies from countries, NGOs and private sector associations to realize a larger scale impact and achieve the 2020 goal that chemicals are used and produced in ways that lead to the minimization of significant adverse effects on human health and the environment.

The publication, which was developed by the Division for Sustainable Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention on POPs, and UNEP Chemicals, is available for download (PDF document). Please feel free to request a hard copy by sending an email to ssc@pops.int.