From the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

Mr. Clayton Campanhola, new Director of FAO’s Plant Protection and Production Division, takes over the role as Executive Secretary for the FAO part of the Rotterdam Convention.

Mr. Clayton Campanhola, former Director of the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI), graduated in Agronomic Engineering, Clayton Campanhola is a Master in Nuclear Energy in Agriculture, and Doctor in Entomology, by the Texas A&M University – USA. He carried out his postdoctoral training at Universidade de Campinas (Unicamp), in the area of Economical Development and Environment.

As a researcher, Campanhola was the scientific coordinator of the Animal Biology Division, in the Biology Institute of São Paulo. He had also been a professor at Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT) and has published eight books and more than 80 articles and summaries in scientific publications.

In the Brazilian Enterprise of Research in Agriculture (EMBRAPA), Campanhola had been a researcher in Rural Development and was nominated president of that institution in 2003.

Mr. Clayton Campanhola took up office in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 2 November 2012.

The Bureau of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention held a meeting on 13 and 14 September 2012 at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Bureau members, among other things, reviewed progress in the implementation of decisions taken by the Conference at its previous meeting and discussed the preparation of the upcoming ordinary and extraordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties.

Full meeting report

Designated National Authorities and Official Contact Points and other relevant representatives of Parties to the Convention are invited to use these documents to support implementation of the Convention.  To help Parties to develop the infrastructure and the capacity to manage chemicals throughout their life-cycle, further guidance and technical guidelines, e.g. on DDT and mercury compounds, are provided by the Stockholm and Basel conventions.

The guidance and technical guidelines of the Basel Convention are available at:

http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/Publications/GuidanceManuals/tabid/2364/Default.aspx; and
http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/Publications/TechnicalGuidelines/tabid/2362/Default.aspx

The Stockholm Convention’s publications are available at:

http://chm.pops.int/Convention/Media/Publications/tabid/506/Default.aspx

For any queries regarding these documents, or to receive them in hard copy, please contact the secretariat at: pic@pic.int or pic@fao.int or ssc@pops.int.

St. Kitts and Nevis has acceded to the Rotterdam Convention, depositing its instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 14 August 2012. The Convention will enter into force for St. Kitts and Nevis on 12 November 2012 in accordance with its article 26 (2).

For more information, see the Status of ratifications page.

Brazzaville, 18 – 20 June 2012. A total of 21 representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Trade, Customs, NGOs and farmers, participated in a workshop on the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

The objectives of this workshop were:

• to train national stakeholders on the key obligations of the Convention and to update a national action plan on the implementation of the Convention prepared in July 2010
• to prepare participants for the monitoring and collection of data on severely hazardous pesticide formulations

Key outcomes of the workshop were the development and agreement of a draft work plan for an awareness raising and field monitoring campaign on pesticide poisoning. Participants updated the national action plan for the implementation of the Convention. An executive summary and a matrix were prepared with priorities, actions, responsibilities and timeframes, and certain actions were highlighted to emphasize where collaboration among stakeholders and technical assistance are vital.

Workshop Report

Rabat, 28 May – 1 June 2012. A total of 33 representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Trade, Poison Centres, Customs, NGOs and farmers, participated in a workshop on the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention in Rabat, Morocco.

The objective of this workshop was to train national stakeholders on the key obligations of the Convention and also to identify elements of a national strategy on the implementation of the Convention.

A key outcome of the workshop is that all participants contributed toward the formulation of the national action plan for the implementation of the Convention. An executive summary and a matrix were prepared with priorities, actions, responsibilities and timeframes, and certain actions were highlighted to emphasize where collaboration among stakeholders and technical assistance are vital.

Workshop Report

Thailand 2012: Rotterdam Convention works with stakeholders to address risks of severely hazardous pesticide formulations

First international scientific conference on assessment and risk management of Chrysotile Asbestos, organized by the Institute of Occupational Health of NAMS, Ukraine.

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Geneva, 23 March 2012 – United Nations chemical experts have recommended that three industrial chemicals and one hazardous pesticide formulation containing paraquat dichloride be included in the Rotterdam Convention’s Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure, considered a country’s first line of defence against toxic chemicals*.

The recommendations will be forwarded to the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention in 2013.

Two new candidate pesticides were also reviewed by the Committee and one – trichlorfon – was recommended for inclusion in the PIC procedure.

The Convention’s Chemical Review Committee based its recommendation on a review of national regulatory actions taken by the European Community and Brazil to ban or restrict the use of trichlorfon on the grounds that the pesticide poses an unacceptable risk to human health and the environment. Countries and other interested parties are encouraged to exchange information between countries and through the secretariat on ongoing trade and use of the pesticide.

“The recommendations to include these five chemicals in the PIC procedure demonstrate the ongoing demand by Parties for information supporting informed decision-making about the import and use of substances known to harm human health and the environment,” said Jim Willis, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.

“For the first time since the Convention entered into force in 2004, the Committee has recommended adding a severely hazardous pesticide formulation to the prior informed consent list, continuing to ensure that countries’ rights to know and trade chemicals safely are respected,” said Ms. Christine Fuell, Senior Technical  Officer with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Action on paraquat dichloride came as the result of Burkina Faso’s notification to the Convention in 2010.

Editors

Jointly supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Rotterdam Convention prevents unwanted trade in the chemicals included in its legally binding prior informed consent (PIC) procedure.

The Rotterdam Convention encourages nations to help each other to safely manage chemicals in international trade. The Prior Informed Consent, or PIC, procedure provides an early warning system that empowers countries to take informed decisions on whether or not to import hazardous chemicals in order to minimize the risks posed to human health and the environment. 

At present, there are a total of 43 banned or severely restricted industrial chemicals and pesticides, including four severely hazardous pesticide formulations listed in the Rotterdam Convention’s Annex III and therefore subject to the PIC procedure.

The Rotterdam Convention does not introduce bans but fosters information exchange mechanisms to help improve decision making about the trade of hazardous chemicals. It enables member Governments to alert each other to potential dangers by exchanging information on chemicals and to take informed decisions with regard to whether they want to import such chemicals in the future.

The Convention makes the international trade in hazardous chemicals more transparent and less vulnerable to abuse through its export notification provisions and by encouraging harmonized labeling of chemicals. Exporting member Governments are responsible for ensuring that no exports leave their territory when an importing country has made the decision not to accept a PIC chemical.

In this way, the Rotterdam Convention helps member Governments to improve their national capacity for chemicals management, and to protect human health and the environment. It also encourages all stakeholders to identify and promote safer alternatives.

For more information, please see www.pic.int.

Contact

Nick Nuttall, UNEP Division of Communication and Public Information Acting Director and Spokesperson, Tel. +41 795 965 737 or +254 733 632 755, e-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org

Erwin Northoff, FAO Media Relations Officer, +39-06-5705-3105, e-mail: erwin.northoff@fao.org

Michael Stanley-Jones, Public Information Officer, Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, +41-22-917-8668; (m) + 41-79-730-4495,
e-mail: msjones@pic.int

* Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, perfluorooctanesulfonates, perfluorooctanesulfonamides and perfluorooctanesulfonyls (UNEP/FAO/RC/CRC.8/CRP.7/Add.1/Rev.1); liquid formulations (emulsifiable concentrate and soluble concentrate) containing paraquat dichloride at or above 276 g/L, corresponding to paraquat ion at or above 200 g/L (UNEP/FAO/RC/CRC.8/CRP.8/Add.1); pentabromodiphenyl ether (CAS No. 32534-81-9) and pentabromodiphenyl ether commercial mixtures (UNEP/FAO/RC/CRC.8/CRP.11/Add.1); and octabromodiphenyl ether commercial mixtures (UNEP/FAO/RC/CRC.8/CRP.12/Add.1)

Zimbabwe has deposited instruments of ratification of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, the globe's three leading chemicals and waste treaties. The Office of the UN Secretary-General announced Zimbabwe’s action on 2 March 2012. It is the first time all three conventions have been ratified by a UN member State at the same time. The ratifications will be effective as of 30 May 2012.

For more information, see the Status of ratifications page.

In a determined effort to satisfy its obligations under the Rotterdam Convention, the Republic of Moldova submitted 26 import responses for Annex III listed chemicals during the month of December, 2011.

The new submissions (17 pesticides and 9 industrial chemicals) will add to another 16 import responses already received from the Republic of Moldova. The Secretariat would like to acknowledge the important efforts made by the Designated National Authority (DNA) to the Rotterdam Convention in the Republic of Moldova.

The submissions came close after the training during the “Regional Workshop for the Central and Eastern European Region on Fostering Cooperation among Designated National Authorities (DNAs)”, which took place in Moscow, Russian Federation, between the 5th and 9th December 2011. Among other topics, the Regional Workshop targeted the training of DNAs on the process of coordination, preparation and submission of import responses.

“We congratulate the Republic of Moldova for their action and encourage other DNAs to submit import responses for the chemicals listed in Annex III. We stand ready to support countries, upon request, if there are problems in completing the forms” said Jim Willis, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.

Other Parties to the Convention that participated in the workshop included: Albania, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Russian Federation and Ukraine.

The Republic of Moldova became a Party to the Convention on 27 January, 2005 and participated in the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in June, 2010. The DNA for Moldova has indicated that more import responses are forthcoming for other chemicals remaining on the Annex III list in the Convention.

For further guidance on how to submit import responses for your country, please click here.