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UNEP/CHW/OEWG/1/
GENERAL
UNEP/CHW/OEWG/1/15
9 April 2003
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
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UNEP/CHW/OEWG/1/
OPEN-ENDED WORKING GROUP OF THE BASEL
CONVENTION ON THE CONTROL OF
TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS OF
HAZARDOUS WASTES AND
THEIR DISPOSAL
First session
Geneva, 28 April to 2 May 2003
Item 5 (h) of the provisional agenda
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISIONS ADOPTED BY THE
SIXTH MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES
Decision VI/40: Follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development
Report by the secretariat
I. BACKGROUND
1.In its decision VI/40, the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting requested the secretariat to identify those areas of relevance to the Basel Convention and the Ministerial Declaration on Environmentally Sound Management covered in the Plan of Implementation of Agenda 21 with a view to exploring cooperation with Parties and other stakeholders to support the Plan. The Conference also requested the secretariat to identify the most efficient ways of cooperating with the relevant stakeholders, in particular UNEP, UN-Habitat, UNDP and UNCTAD as well as the private sector and NGOs. Finally, the Conference requested the secretariat to propose to the Open-ended Working Group a way forward in implementing concrete activities in this field within available resources.
II. IMPLEMENTATION
2.Several of the activities initiated under the Basel Declaration on Environmentally Sound Management have the potential to support the Plan of Implementation of Agenda 21 adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and its type II activities concerning public/private partnership. Such activities include the environmentally sound management of stockpiles of hazardous wastes (pesticides, PCBs, used oils), the dismantling of ships, used lead-acid batteries, biomedical and health care wastes, in which a major component is the construction and operation of public/private strategic partnership.
3.In addition, new initiatives are being developed concerning the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes in urban areas in close cooperation with municipalities, and of end-of-life mobile phones in partnership in particular with the major manufacturers.
4.The majority of the project proposals submitted by Parties and the Basel Convention Regional Centres for funding under the Strategic Plan for the Implementation of the Basel Convention for 2003-2004 may provide a solid foundation for supporting the WSSD Plan of Implementation and type II activities.
III. NEXT STEPS
5.In the view of the secretariat, the next step could include the following elements:
(a)Review of on-going and planned activities funded in the context of the Strategic Plan with a view to identifying activities that support the WSSD objectives directly, in an incremental way or indirectly;
(b)Review of the business plans prepared by the respective Basel Convention Regional Centres to identify more precisely how each Centre is, can or will support the WSSD objectives;
(c)Identification of the main international initiatives or programmes (eg: IFCS, IOMC, SAICM, GHS, PRTR[1]) in which the waste dimension needs to be adequately taken into account to meet the expectations and objectives of the WSSD in term of the life-cycle management of materials;
(d)Preparation of a report for consideration by the next session of the Open-ended Working Group.
6.It should be noted that decision VI/40 directs the secretariat to propose a way forward within available resources. Consequently, the steps described under paragraph 5 above will be progressive and would not be implemented simultaneously.
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UNEP/CHW/OEWG/1/1
[1] IFCS: Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety
IOMC: Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals
SAICM: Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management
GHS: Global Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals
PRTR: Pollutant Release and Transfer Register