Fri, Sep 21, 2012 -
Third International Conference on Chemicals
Management also Raises Concern over Chemicals
that Disrupt Hormone Production
Nairobi, 21 September
2012 - The third International Conference
on Chemicals Management (ICCM3), on Friday
extended until 2015 a Trust Fund that has
to-date provided over US$31 million to improve
the management of potentially hazardous
chemicals in 105 countries, providing a
welcome boost to efforts to safeguard human
health and the environment.
Delegates at the conference
also recognized the need to better understand
and communicate the risks posed by endocrine
disrupting chemicals - compounds which disrupt
the systems that produce and secrete hormones
in humans and wildlife - and marked them
as an emerging issue in the Strategic Approach
to Chemicals Management (SAICM).
Further Resources
Strategic Approach to International Chemicals
Management (SAICM)UNEP's Global Chemicals
Outlook ReportUNEP Chemicals ProgrammeMost
Widely Ratified Treaty in UN History Marks
Silver Jubilee Success Underscores Benefits
of PursuAs the sustainable management of
chemicals becomes an issue of growing global
concern, over 500 delegates and experts
from 124 countries, international organizations,
governments, non-governmental organizations
and the chemicals industry gathered in Nairobi
for the five-day meeting under the auspices
of SAICM.
One of the key tools
of SAICM, adopted in 2006, was the Quick
Start Programme (QSP), which has been has
been supporting initial enabling activities
for the sound management of chemicals in
developing countries, least developed countries,
small island developing states and countries
with economies in transition.
The QSP Trust Fund,
which supplied most of the funding for the
programme, was set to expire this year,
but delegates voted to extend its life until
2015. This will allow more developing nations
to submit requests for assistance in soundly
managing chemicals until long-term funding
is secured.
The programme has supported
146 projects in 105 countries, most of which
are least-developed countries and small
island developing states. It has mobilized
a total of US$40.8 million, including contributions
to the Trust Fund and in-kind contributions
from project implementers and executing
agencies.
"The world is increasingly
utilizing synthetically-made chemical products,
from fertilizers and petrochemicals to electronics
and plastics, to bring economic development,
cure illness and enhance livelihoods,"
said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP
Executive Director Achim Steiner. "However,
as UNEP's Global Chemicals Outlook report
recently highlighted, the risks posed by
the unsustainable management of chemicals
are being compounded by the shift in the
production, use and disposal of chemical
products to developing economies, where
safeguards and regulations can be weaker."
"Financial arrangements
to support these countries in their efforts
to grow the necessary capacities to soundly
manage chemicals are essential to keep on
track to meet the 2020 goal, so I am delighted
that the Quick Start Programme Trust Fund
has been extended," he added.
The conference considered
the importance of long-term financing for
the sound management of chemicals and wastes.
The draft proposal aims
to support efforts to secure sustainable,
predictable, adequate and accessible financing
for the implementation of obligations under
chemicals-related multilateral environmental
agreements, and the implementation of voluntary
commitments under international policy frameworks
such as SAICM.
The conference also
agreed to "build awareness and promote
actions on endocrine disrupting chemicals
by improving the availability of and access
to information on chemicals that are proven
or suspect of having endocrine disruptive
potential".
An endocrine disruptor
is a chemical substance that affects the
endocrine (hormonal) system and may therefore
interfere with important developmental processes
in humans and wildlife.
A 2002 study found that
there is sufficient evidence to conclude
that some wildlife species have suffered
disruption from these chemicals, and a growing
body of work since then has found emerging
evidence of adverse effects on humans -
including links to infertility and cancers,
as well as impaired thyroid and brain function.
Almost 800 chemicals
are known or suspected to be capable of
interfering with hormone receptors, hormone
synthesis or hormone conversion.
There were also many
calls to take action on highly hazardous
pesticides, which industry experts and campaigners
said were often deployed inappropriately
by end users. According to the Global Chemicals
Outlook report, the accumulated cost of
illness and injury linked to pesticides
in small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa
could reach US$90 billion between 2005 and
2020.
About SAICM
The Strategic Approach
to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)
- to which UNEP provides the Secretariat
- is a policy framework to promote chemical
safety around the world. SAICM has as its
overall objective the achievement of the
sound management of chemicals throughout
their life cycle so that, by 2020, chemicals
are produced and used in ways that minimize
significant adverse impacts on human health
and the environment. This "2020 goal"
was adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in 2002 as part of the Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation.
Objectives are grouped
under five themes: risk reduction; knowledge
and information; governance; capacity-building
and technical cooperation; and illegal international
traffic. For more information, visit http://www.saicm.org/
+ More
African Ministers Adopt
Programmes to Boost Sustainable Development,
Eye Key Role in Post-Rio+20 Landscape
Fri, Sep 14, 2012 -
UN General Assembly Urged to Approve Upgrade
of UNEP - Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete
and delegates at the close of the 14th AMCEN
meeting
Arusha, Tanzania, 14
September 2012 - Environment ministers and
government representatives from over forty
African countries on Friday adopted a set
of flagship programmes and decisions that
could catalyse a new wave of sustainable
development on the continent as they agreed
to adopt a common voice and remain fully
engaged in the implementation of the Rio+20
outcome document.
At the end of the fourteenth
regular session of the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), the
first meeting post Rio+20, the ministers
adopted documents covering a raft of areas,
from sustainable development in the context
of an inclusive green economy to a common
stance on climate change negotiations to
the strengthening of UNEP.
Further Resources
The African Ministerial Conference on the
Environment (AMCEN)The Arusha Declaration
on Africa's Post Rio+20 Strategy for Sustainable
Development, presented to the President
of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete, stressed the
need for Africa to capitalize on the opportunities
presented by the outcomes of Rio+20.
"The conference
recognizes the Green Economy as an important
tool for realizing sustainable development
and for eradicating poverty in Africa,"
said Mr. Kikwete. "However, there is
a need to maximize the opportunities of
a Green Economy transition across a wider
range of relevant sectors from natural resource
management to transport and clean energy
systems."
"African ministers
therefore decided to establish mechanisms
for a coordinated support to countries for
the promotion of a Green Economy, including
development of partnerships, national strategies,
promotion of regional and international
cooperation and transfer of resource efficient
and green technologies and know-how,"
he added.
The ministers agreed
to endorse an updated common position to
ensure Africa's participation in priority
issues such as the climate talks leading
up to the 18th Conference of Parties to
the UNFCCC in Doha later this year.
Other decisions adopted
include:
An agreement to strengthen
and consolidate commitment to the promotion
of sustainable development and effectively
integrate the economic, environmental and
social dimensions in local, national and
regional development policies and strategies;
A reaffirmation of the
need to speak for the continent in one voice
and ensure the adequate representation of
Africa in all committees established for
the follow up of the outcomes of Rio +20;
The initiation of an
African green economy partnership that facilitates
coordinated support to member states and
serves to implement the global partnership
for action on green economy as a vehicle
for poverty eradication, decent jobs creation
and sustainable development;
A request to Member
States to use UNEP's African Environment
Outlook as one of its regular tools for
reviewing the state of the African environment
to support decision making at national and
regional levels;
A review of the African
10 Year Framework Programme on Sustainable
Consumption and Production so as to hasten
the implementation of programmes;
An agreement to consider
the Great Green Wall for Sahara and the
Sahel Initiative - which aims to halt soil
degradation, reduce poverty, conserve biodiversity,
and increase land productivity in some 20
countries around the Sahara - as a flagship
programme that represents Africa's contribution
to the achievement of "a land degradation
neutral world in the context of sustainable
development" as recommended by the
Rio+20 Conference.
UN Under-Secretary-General
and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner
said that Africa had a key role to play
in international negotiations that could
secure a better future for the continent.
"The follow up
to Rio+20 needs to mark a moment of renewed
commitment, greater urgency and a turning
point in terms of implementation of what
has already been agreed," he told delegates
at the conference.
"A fully engaged
Africa at the UN General Assembly and beyond
can assist greatly in ensuring that the
gains made at Rio+20 are not only secured,
but acted upon in order to boost the lives
and livelihoods of now one billion Africans
and six billion others across this extraordinary
world."
Flagship programmes
for realizing sustainable development in
Africa will be further developed and implemented,
taking into account cooperation frameworks.
AMCEN flagship programmes
include:
African Green Economy
Partnership;
Ecosystem Based Adaptation Programme for
Africa;
African Programme on Sustainable Energy
Development;
Partnership for Sustainable Consumption
and Production in Africa;
Integrated Waste Management Programme for
Africa;
Africa Integrated Environmental Assessment
for Sustainable Development Planning;
Sustainable land management and desertification
program in Africa;
Poverty and livelihoods;
African Program on Biodiversity and Ecosystems;
African Partnership for Capacity Building,
technology transfer and skills development.
Regarding the strengthening
and upgrading of UNEP, which was one of
the key outcomes of Rio+20, the ministers
urged the General Assembly to:
Establish universal
membership in the Governing Council of UNEP;
Ensure secure, stable,
adequate and increased financial resources
from the regular UN budget (to a level of
two per cent of the overall budget), to
be supplemented by voluntary contributions;
Strengthen UNEP engagement
in key United Nations coordination bodies
and empower the agency to lead efforts to
formulate United Nations system-wide strategies
on the environment;
Progressively consolidate
UNEP headquarters functions in Nairobi,
as well as strengthen its regional presence,
in order to assist countries, upon request,
in the implementation of their national
environmental policies.
The ministers also requested
additional measures beyond the Rio+20 agreement,
including upgrading regional offices and
establishing five sub-regional offices in
Africa, as well as establishing a universal
membership body known as the Environment
Assembly with a ministerial segment called
the Ministerial Conference on Environment.
Mounkaila Goumandakoye,
Regional Director of UNEP's Regional Office
for Africa, said UNEP would support all
the decisions adopted by the ministers.
"In addition to
the provision of secretariat services, our
support will focus on scientific and technical
advisory services as we increase assistance
to African countries in the implementation
of the Rio+20 outcomes, taking into account
the threat that climate change continues
to pose," he said.
"Our collaboration
with AMCEN will also focus on programmatic
support in the design and implementation
of programmes, in line with the regional
flagship programmes identified at this session,
that respond to the needs and priorities
of countries in the areas of sound environmental
management," he added.
Note to editors:
AMCEN regular sessions
are held every two years. The 14th ministerial
conference was preceded by an expert meeting,
which discussed issues related to the outcomes
of Rio +20, including major programmes,
strengthening of UNEP, AMCEN related issues,
Biodiversity, Climate change etc. UNEP provides
the AMCEN secretariat.
