UNEP-BRS Press Conference 15 May 2023

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to what is the Closing Press Call.

Conference of the 16th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, the 11th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention and the 11th Meeting of the Conferences of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention, which were held here in Geneva, Switzerland from the 1st to the 12th of May.

The 2023 Meetings of the Conferences of the Parties to the three Conventions were held under the theme Accelerating Action Targets for the sound management of chemicals and Waste.

Delegates attending the conference accelerated action and made significant progress on the consideration of a number of technical issues under the Conventions.

These are on the adoption of the long-awaited compliance mechanism under the Stockholm Convention, on the listing of three new chemicals determined as posing serious concerns to human health and the environment for elimination under the Stockholm Convention and on adding a new chemical on to the prior informed consent procedure under the Rotterdam Convention.

And last but not least, on the technical guidelines on the environmentally sound management of plastic waste, Pops waste and e-waste under the Vessel Convention.

It is my pleasure to welcome our speaker for today, Mr Rolf Payette, our Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotherham and Stockholm Conventions.

After introductory statements from our speaker, we'll open the floor to questions.

When you ask your question, please introduce yourself and the media organisation you're from, as well as the person you're leading.

Sorry.

As well as the directing your question, you're welcome to have only one follow up question.

This is to ensure that everyone gets a chance to ask questions.

Thank you all for your contributions and attendance this morning, Mr Wyatt.

Thank you very much, my Christina.

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

We had over 2000 delegates representing 180 countries attending the meeting of the conferences of the Parties of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, which were held from the 1st to the 12th of May 2023.

Have most of you know?

The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions are the three main legally binding multilateral environment agreements governing the sound management of chemicals and wastes and have almost universal coverage with 100 and 91165 and 186 parties respectively.

The conventions contribute to addressing the triple planetary crisis of pollution, biodiversity laws and climate change.

The conventions took important decisions, including the adoption of procedures and mechanisms on compliance by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Pops, and that was a significant achievement after two decades of work.

The compliance mechanism will help parties to fulfil their obligations under the Convention and this brings all three conventions up to date with established compliance mechanisms under the Stockholm Convention.

We also had the listing of new chemicals that have been determined to pose serious concerns to human health and the environment and for elimination under the Stockholm Convention and also subjecting an additional pesticide to the pre informed consent procedure under the Rotterdam Convention.

Finally, the development of technical guidelines and environmentally sound management of plastic waste.

Pops waste, any waste has been adopted under the Basel Convention.

Allow me to go into some further details.

The listing of persistent organic pollutants or what we call Pops and the further development of the Stockholm Convention resulted in a number of important decision.

The three chemicals Pops chemicals that were listed is actually the pesticide called Metoxico and industrial chemicals the Chlorine Plus and UV328, both additives in plastics.

The toxicolor has been used as a replacement for DDT against a wide range of pests including biting flies, house flies, mosquito larvae, cocoaches and sugars on field crops, fruits, vegetables, ornamentals as well as on livestock and pets.

It is known to be very toxic to invertebrates and fish, including through its endocrine disrupting effects, and has been detected in the environment and biota as far as the Arctic and the Antarctic.

Far from its production and use, Metoxicol has also been detected in the human serum adipose tissues, the umbilical cord blood, and the human breast milk.

On the other hand, the chlorine plus is a flame retardant and UV328 is a ultraviolet absorbent.

Both chemicals are heavily used as plastic additives in such applications as motor vehicles, industrial machines and in medical devices.

One of the events of the meeting was the launch of the report also of the second effectiveness evaluation of the Stockholm Convention, which highlights that the Convention provides an effective and dynamic framework for regulating persistent organic pollutants throughout their life cycle and also addressing the production, use, import and export, as well as release and the disposal of those chemicals worldwide.

And that progress has occurred since the first evaluation was undertaken in 2017.

Parties also adopted the monitoring results that indicate that regulations targeting Pops or persistent organic pollutants have succeeded in reducing those levels in humans and the environment.

For the initial 12 Pops, or better known as The Dirty Dozen, concentrations measured in air and in human populations have declined and continue to decline or remain at very low levels due to the restrictions imposed on Pops, some of which predated the Stockholm Convention and are now listed in the annexes of the Convention.

For the new listed Pops, concentrations are beginning to show decreases, although in a few instances increases or stable levels have been observed.

The Conference of the parties also requested the United Nations Pops Review Committee, the scientific body under the convention, to make recommendations regarding labelling options for identifying Pops in stockpiles, products and articles in use and in wastes.

I now turn my attention to the listing of chemicals and enhancing of effectiveness under the Rotterdam Convention.

The 11th meeting of the Conference of the party is the Rotterdam Convention agreed to the listing of the insecticide Turbuforce for which an extremely **** hazard terrestrial organisms has been identified.

This listing will make Tabufos subject to the pre or informed consent procedure, thereby granting parties the Convention the right to decide on whether they wish to import it or not.

There was also a decision on the effectiveness of the Convention as submitted by several parties to amend the Convention by introducing a new annex, which we call the Annex 8.

This proposal was however, not agreed by the COP after voting.

The Rotterdam Convention on the Pre Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade enables Parties to take informed decisions on the future imports of chemicals and pesticides that have been listed in its Annex 3.

Through this peak procedure or pre informed consent procedure, Parties benefit from a structured information exchange that contributes to the environmentally sound of those hazardous chemicals.

The technical guidelines for the sound management of wastes under the Basel Convention.

The 16th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention on on Movement of Transboundary Waste and Other Wastes adopted technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of plastic waste as well as other wastes containing or contaminated with persistent organic pollutants or Pops.

Technical guidelines also were adopted on environmentally sound management of waste, lead acid batteries and also technical guidelines on the transboundary movement of electronic and electrical waste, or what we call e-waste, and used electrical and electronic equipment.

In particular regarding the distinction between waste and non waste under the Basel Convention.

Those technical guidelines are meant to provide guidance to countries who are building their capacity to manage waste in an environmentally and efficient way and in the development of detailed procedures, waste management plans or strategies.

Those technical guidelines have also been useful for industry in developing new technologies or adopting new methods in the management of waste particles.

Parties have called for the need for countries to accelerate action to meet the upcoming deadlines related to the elimination of what we call PCBS or polychlorinated biphenyls in equipment by 2025 and the environmentally sun waste management of liquids containing PCBS and equipment contaminated with PCBS by 2028 under the Stockholm Convention.

PCBS have historically been used in industry, has heat exchange fluids in electric Transformers and capacitors, also has additives in paint, carbonless copy paper and also plastics.

PCBS are highly toxic to fish, killing them at higher doses and causing spawning failures at lower doses.

Research also links PCBS to reproductive failure and suppression of the immune system in various animals such as seals and mink.

In promoting action on making visible the invisible and to address the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss.

The meetings of the three conferences also strengthened further mandates for international cooperation with all other organisations, including the Minimata Convention on Mercury, the Biodiversity Convention and its Global Coming Montreal Biodiversity Framework and as well as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

I thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr Payette.

So now we will open the floor for questions and I would just like to remind you to please introduce yourself and indicate the media organisation you represent.

Thank you.

So I now have I see in the list a body hugger please, you have the floor.

I thank you Professor.

It's so many specific words I can't understand of your your report.

I'm sorry indeed, but I'm concerned on the discharge of the radioactive water of Fukushima.

My question concerned is that any significant focus on this issue and what is role do BRS convention playing the role on this issue?

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

The mandate of the three conventions does not cover radioactive materials or radioactive waste.

Thank you.

I can't understand it means the IT doesn't concern anything on this issue, right?

As you know, all the all the conventions have very specific mandates established by the governments and for now, the Basel, Rotterdam and SOCOM conventions do not cover radioactive materials, processes or waste.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Britt.

I have our next speaker.

Judy Aprenev, please, do you have the floor?

Yes, thank you.

Yuria Perev from Rio Novosi.

As a modification of the voting procedure to choose the majority rather than the unanimity had been adopt during the meeting.

Thank you.

Can you repeat the question please?

Yes, one week earlier.

At the opening of the.

Conferences.

It was told that the states are thinking about modifying the voting procedure to choose the majority and not the unanimity to make this to take decisions during the conferences.

It was just an idea, but I just want to ask if something has changed about that.

OK.

I think you are referring to the Rotterdam Convention where there was a proposal for amending the convention so that the listing under annex aid could be done by voting.

As you know, the Rotterdam Convention listing is done by consensus.

So there was a proposal by a group of countries to have a new annex, which would then, if there's no consensus, then by voting chemicals would be listed under this new annex.

As I mentioned previously, the parties did not agree to the amendment to the Convention.

Thank you, Mr Bridget.

We have another speaker, another request for the floor.

Isabel Sacco, you have the floor.

Yes.

Good morning.

I am Isabel Sacco.

I work for the Spanish News Agency FA.

And thank you for this briefing, which is quite technical.

And so my question would be, well, I have our request first is if you could share with us your opening remarks of this press conference because this is important if it may be there, there is a press release, I don't know, but.

It could be.

Quite important.

For for us.

To be clear.

And.

Accurate on the information.

And secondly, I would like us to to the to the chair if he could explain what for the general public, what is the importance for as you mentioned, for the environment and for the human health of the decision that has been taken during the meeting.

Maybe you explain the the effect of some chemicals and some products that now cannot be used.

And I suppose there is a delay also a delay or I mean, the decision I suppose is not immediate.

It could take time to apply.

So if you can explain all these things and in general terms, what are the impact of these decisions and overall the importance of these three treaties for to, to, to save the environment and, and human and animal health.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Perhaps I will start with the Stockholm Convention.

As you know, Stockholm Convention managers and lists and bands and chemicals that are known as persistent organic pollutants.

These are found in products that we have in the homes, in industry, in cars, basically everywhere.

So it does have huge implications for for the for the normal consumer.

And here I'll give an example.

The Stockholm Convention listed a group of chemicals called PFAS.

And since they are not written on the project, so people don't know anything about these chemicals.

But PFAS is also used in a product which we used to know has Teflon, which is the nonstick product that is used in cooking pans.

And right now if you go into the shops in Europe, you will see it says no PFAS, none of these chemicals, because then what the SOCOM convention has done is encourage industry and push industry to find alternatives.

And, and these are reflected in some of the products.

Many of the furniture, for example, that we use at home and here in this building as well will have what you call a chemical, which is a flame retardant.

This is of course to increase safety in case there's a fire.

Those, those cushions and materials don't, don't catch fire very fast.

And this falls in a class of chemicals which we call the descabidis.

But we don't of course industry doesn't doesn't show that to to consumers.

But with the listing of this chemical, now industry will have to start phasing out the use of this chemical within furnitures, curtains and other products that we we are accustomed to in the home.

So this is just two examples.

And of course, with the listing, for example, of those chemicals like the chlorine plus, which is heavily used in plastic additives.

So industry now we'll have to find alternatives and and sustainable alternatives to the use of these products in plastics.

And of course the Stockholm Convention has different annexes and the countries have parties have the opportunity to apply for exemptions.

For example, they can apply for a five year, a six year exemption because that will give time to industry for them to change their processes.

It also gives time to parties for them to put in place the necessary legislation, standards and practises to enable the phase out of those chemicals.

If I now move to the Rotterdam Convention, the Rotterdam Convention is as I mentioned before a pre informed consent which means that certain chemicals that are listed, all the chemicals that are listed in the Annex 3 to the convention.

If countries want to send country A wants to send to country B, then they have to inform that country that they intend to send that chemical to their country and that country has the right to refuse or accept this chemical.

Based upon that, they also have to put in place measures such as a control on the use of those chemicals, practises on the safe use of these chemicals, which then leads to, of course, less pollution and less impact on the environment.

And in this convention, we have two groups of chemicals, one which is a group of pesticides and the other industrial chemicals.

And of course those that mostly interest consumers are those that is falling in the area of pesticides because they are very much linked to agriculture and their use in in, in in production of food.

On the other hand, in the use of industry, I can just give you a simple example.

For example, we used to use a certain chemical in in paint and these have been now restricted as part of this of the Rotterdam Convention so that different types of paints have to meet different standards when they are shipped from from country A to country B.

Just to give an example on how to relate to the consumer on the ground with regards to Basel Convention.

This is a very important convention as it relates to waste.

As you've realised that there is now a development of an international treaty on on plastic waste.

The Basil Convention has a lot of linkages with the development of this new international treaty.

But the Basil Convention doesn't not only deal with plastic waste, it deals with has mentioned before lead acid batteries which is used in cars and their disposal and how they are disposed and managed.

As you know, there's a lot of illegal trading wastes and these are wastes are being sent to countries which don't have the capacity to manage those wastes and thus end up creating pollution in numerous parts of the world.

So the Basel Convention attempts to reduce those flow of wastes across borders in a transboundary way and also by providing support to countries in terms of implementing sound technologies and also best available practises, what we call BAT and BEP.

Another terminology here in the management of waste at the national level.

I hope I've given some context and some examples to how relevant those international conventions are to the normal consumer.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr Prayuth.

I don't see any other requests for the floor.

Oh, sorry, spoke too quick.

SU Ying Wang, please, do you have the floor?

Thanks.

Thanks for taking my questions.

I have one.

Question just to follow up my.

Colleague.

The body.

So I think.

The target.

Of the stagger America nation is to protect the human health and the environment from the.

Chemical, right?

So the the nuclear condemnated water.

The.

Discharge to the say, I think it is very.

Influences to the.

Neighbourhoods and is any.

Concerns from your part and from from.

Your conventions to.

To take any actions.

To against this, this plan or something else, could you please share with us your views?

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Like I said, the mandate of the three convention does not cover radioactive pollution, OK.

We do not deal with radioactivity of any kind.

It is not within the mandate of those 3 conventions.

There are other conventions that deal with radioactivity.

Thank you.

Mr Payette.

Any other questions?

I don't see any other requests for the floor give you a couple of seconds if you wish to take the floor.

But if not, I would just like to let you know that we will be issuing a press release at the at the end of this conference.

It will be available on our website, but we will send it to all of those of you who have participated in this press conference with the details, including also the speech delivered by Mr Payette and some fact sheets on the different chemicals that have been included in the conventions.

So you would have enough information.

And should you have any other questions, you should feel free to contact us directly.

You can contact me or my colleague, Christine Fuel in the FAO Secretariat.

Our contact details are available at the bottom of the press release.

So with that, I thank you everyone for the participation and your very interesting questions and we look forward to continuing working with you.

Thank you very much.