SAICM Stories

As one of the most ambitious international chemicals management programmes undertaken draws to a close in December 2019 after 13 successful years – here is what you should know about it.

Costa Rica is home to more animal species per hectare than any other place on Earth. Yet until relatively recently, Costa Rica has remained one of the countries with the highest intensities of pesticide use in the world with many of the pesticides being highly hazardous in terms of acute toxicity, chronic health risk and/or environmental contamination. The SAICM-funded QSP project on ‘Highly Hazardous Pesticides phase out and alternatives in Costa Rica’ has been an important player in recent years improvement of the situation.

Sri Lanka’s economy has been shaped in recent years by the industrial sectors of rubber, tourism, and textiles and apparels. Though these industries provide financial benefits to the economy, they are not always managed with environmental sustainability in mind. Therefore, the potential to cause damage to human health and the environment exists. To address the issue, the Quick Start Programme (QSP) funded a project in Sri Lanka to strengthen national capacity for applying ‘SMART Chemicals Management’.

On this International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, themed “32 years and healing,” we can rightfully celebrate over three decades of remarkable international cooperation to protect the ozone layer. Ozone layer protection efforts have not just helped drive ozone healing but have also contributed to the fight against climate change by averting an estimated 135 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. This shows that solutions can be advantageous on multiple fronts without watering down the benefits.

Celebrating successful women-led health and chemicals projects in Balkan communities.

The third meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group for the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management was held from 2-4 April 2019 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The meeting allowed for multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral deliberation on the sound management of chemicals and waste up to and beyond 2020. It also provided an effective platform to showcase key initiatives.

The Global Chemicals Outlook II – From Legacies to Innovative Solutions: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, mandated by the UN Environment Assembly in 2016, seeks to alert policymakers and other stakeholders to the critical role of the sound management of chemicals and waste in sustainable development. It takes stock of global trends as well as progress made and gaps in achieving the global goal to minimize the adverse impacts from chemicals and waste by 2020. The Global Chemicals Outlook II finds that the global goal to minimize adverse impacts of chemicals and waste will not be achieved by 2020. Solutions exist, but more ambitious worldwide action by all stakeholders is urgently required.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) together with the Uruguayan Government signed a Host Country Agreement during the last week of November 2018, to set the arrangements for the Third meeting of the Open-ended Working Group. The event will take place in Montevideo on 2-4 April 2019, and will discuss the management of chemical substances and products leading to the fifth International Conference of Chemicals Management (ICCM5) in 2020.

The ceremony was chaired by three Ministers of the Uruguayan Government, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Housing, Land Planning and Environment and Jacob Duer, Chief of the Chemicals and Health Branch from UN Environment.

Regional SAICM meetings will be held back-to-back with the regional meetings organized in preparation of the Minamata Convention second Conference of the Parties (COP2). SAICM workshops will be half-day meetings with the other half-day being workshops organized by the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. Please find the information dates and places here.

Tuesday, July 17, United Nations Plaza, New York - The purpose of this event was to provide a platform for participants to discuss and exchange views and perspectives on chemicals and waste in the context of SDG 12 on sustainable consumption and production patterns, thus ensuring healthy lives and a healthy planet well into the future. More information can be found here. The event was also covered by IISD and the report can be found here.

Chemicals management through the development of Electronic distance learning tool (eDLT)

From the 23rd of February 2018, the Special Programme on Institutional Strengthening is open for applications for 4 months. The deadline for submission of applications is Thursday the 21st of June 2018.

The draft independent evaluation of the Strategic Approach for 2006-2015 is now available. This report, mandated by the ICCM resolution IV/4, aims to provide an analysis to inform intersessional process, enabling ICCM5 to make an informed decision on the future arrangement for the Strategic Approach and the sound management of chemicals and waste beyond 2020.

In Lesotho, one project funded by the Quick Start Programme Trust Fund, entitled ‘Strengthening the capacity of smallholder farmers, extension staff and agro-dealers on judicious use of herbicides’, helped to increase the knowledge of the safe use of herbicides and other pesticides among these key groups to improve crop outcomes, protect the health of communities and prevent damage to the environment.

The second meeting of the intersessional process will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, from 13 to 15 March 2018, hosted by the Government of Sweden. Register now !

We are building a new information platform for SAICM. The survey is now closed ! Thank you for your help.

In May of 2017, the Global Environment Facility approved the concept note for the project ‘Global best practices on emerging chemical policy issues of concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)’, a $9 million full-size project that is scheduled to begin in 2018 until 2020. The project will focus on the SAICM emerging policy issues (EPIs). These EPIs represent particular environmental and health problems and SAICM aims to forge cooperative action to address these issues. The project will focus on: phase out of lead in paint; lifecycle management in chemicals in products; and knowledge management strategies.

Reporting on SAICM implementation is a key tool in assessing progress towards the achievement of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation's goal of sound management of chemicals by 2020. Stakeholders across all sectors are encouraged to complete the survey so that their activities are reflected in the report. The deadline to complete the survey was 15 September 2017 and has now been extended until 31 March 2018.