Conferences

IPENers participated in the Ordinary and extraordinary meetings of the conferences of the parties (COP) to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions that took place from 4 - 15 May, 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. Although the Stockholm Convention COP was IPEN’s main focus, IPEN also participated in the Basel and Rotterdam Convention meetings, as did some of IPEN’s partners, such as Basel Action Network (BAN), Pesticide Action Network (PAN), and Rotterdam Convention Alliance (ROCA), amongst others. Some positions and documents from partners can also be found on this site. 

15 May Press Release: Toxic Pesticide Globally Banned after Unprecedented Vote at UN Chemicals Meeting

Delegates from more than 90 countries took the unprecedented step of voting for a global ban on pentachlorophenol – a proven toxic pesticide and contaminant in wildlife and human biomonitoring studies. The historic vote came at the combined meetings of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, which usually make decisions by consensus, after India repeatedly blocked action. 

Read the entire press release, as well as one from IPEN Participating Organizations Alaska Community Action on Toxics and International Indian Treaty Council, here (English / español)

8 May Press Release: EU Promotes Recycling Toxic Chemicals into New Products Which WIll Ultimately be Dumped as Waste into Developing Countries 

The EU has pushed dangerous cleanup standards for three toxic flame retardant chemicals widely used in building insulation, upholstery and electronics (HBCD, PentaBDE, and OctaBDE) at a UN meeting of chemicals treaties in Geneva, Switzerland. All three toxics chemicals are listed in the Stockholm Convention for global elimination. They are ubiquitous in the environment globally and can disrupt human hormone systems, creating potential adverse effects on the development of the nervous system and children's IQ.

Read the entire press release here (English / español)

7 May: Science Fair opens in Geneva

At the CICG building in Geneva where the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Convention Conferences of the Parties (COPs) are taking place, a Science Fair - "From Science to Action: Workig for a Safer Tomorrow" - opened on 7 May and will host events and provide information for conference delegates for three days. Booths at the Fair cover the following topics:

• Accessing Science through the Clearing House Mechanism
• Scientific Processes under the BRS Conventions
• Scientifically Sound POPs Monitoring
• Science Supporting Safe and Efficient Solutions for Hazardous Industrial Chemicals
• Science Supporting Risk Reduction from Hazardous Pesticides
• Science Providing Sustainable Waste Management Solutions: Turning waste to resource
• Science Empowering the Public: How are we personally affected and what can we do?
• From Science to Action: Examples of Successful Actions towards a safer tomorrow

IPEN contributed materials and information to three of the booths: Solutions for the Destructions of POPs Wastes factsheet; Global fish and community mercury monitoring, Survey of PBDEs in recycled carpet padding and Toxic recycling posters, and a zero waste poster and postcards created with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).  

Additionally, Meriel Watts (Pesticide Action Network Asia & the Pacific / IPEN POPs Pesticides Working Group Chair) participated in a Science Fair discussion on “Science supporting decisionmaking on chemicals and wastes management” on 8 May with other experts from the POPs Review Committee (POPRC).

5 May: NGO Rights Preserved

A victory in Geneva today as NGO rights were preserved after plenary decided not to take a new decision, but to stick with the outcomes from 2013 which ensured the participation of the most vulnerable non-governmental and civil society organizations (NGOs and CSOs) in the Basel / Ritterdam and Stockholm Convention Conferences of the Parties. 

Side Events  

On 8 May, IPENer Senior Science and Technical Advisor Joe DiGangi participated in a side event convened by UNEP and UNIDO: "Addressing Hazardous Substances within the Life-Cycle of Electrical and Electronic Products - Efforts till date AND e-waste management in developing and transition countries." 

On 6 May, IPEN held a side event: "Waste & Synergies between Basel and Stockholm Conventions: Understanding the Links and Implications"

This side event:

- Provided insights to E-waste activities in Africa & other regions

- Provided examples of recycled & reused POPs in new products

- Outlined the international policy landscape & synergies among the Conventions on these issues (ie, Low POPs, Recycling exemptions, Guidelines for Transboundary Movement of E-waste)

More information

On 5 May, IPENers participated in two side events:

IPEN Senior Science and Technical Advisor Joe DiGangi was a panelist in: "The Links: Persistent Organic Pollutants and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals" organized by the United Nations Environment Programme, World Health Organization and Basel / Rotterdam / Stockholm Secretariat. Room 3 at CICG Building, 13:15. 

Vi Waghiyi, from IPEN Participating Organization Alaska Community Action on Toxics, was a panelist in: "Linkages between human rights and hazardous substances and wastes" organized by the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Europe, Basel / Rotterdam / Stockholm Secretariat and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes. Room 4 at CICG Building, 13:15. 

See Vi Waghiyi's presentation here

4 May, 2015: 

IPEN is participating in the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-12), the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (RC COP-7), and the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP-7) currently taking place in Geneva, Switzerland from 4 to 15 May, 2015. 

28 April, 2015:

IPEN Quick Views of Stockholm Convention COP7

In the run-up to the Stockholm Convention's 7th Conference of the Parties, IPEN has released its "Quick Views of Stockholm Convention COP7." This document is a summary statement of IPEN views on issues that COP7 will be called upon to address, including POPs wastes, tecnical assistance and regional centres, rules of procedure, compliance, listing of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in Annex A, listing of hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD) in Annex A and C, exemptions and acceptable purposes, evaluation of PFOS, and more.

11 March, 2015: 

IPEN Guide to Listing the 2015 POPs Candidates

The Stockholm Convention established a science-based process for new persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention. The Convention recognizes that a lack of full scientific certainty should not prevent a candidate substance from proceeding in the evaluation or listing and clearly mandates Parties to decide on listing “in a precautionary manner.” This new Guide (English /русский /español / français / العربية) highlights three new candidates for listing in the Convention in 2015 - pentachlorophenol, hexachlorobutadiene, and chlorinated naphthalenes - and provides the POPs Review Committee's recommendation for which annex the POPs should be listed under in the Convention, the chemicals' uses, alternatives, adverse effects, and more. 

See the Guide here 

The sixth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC6) for the international Mercury Treaty took place in Bangkok, Thailand from 3 - 7 November, 2014, and numerous representatives from IPEN Participating Organizations took part. Please see below some information about IPEN's activities during the conference. 

7 November:

IPEN Press Release (Bangkok): The U.S. has led a push at the mercury treaty negotiations in Bangkok to further delay any global action on mercury contaminated sites. The sixth negotiating meeting of the Minamata Convention on Mercury has failed to live up to its title, which references the world’s most infamous mercury contaminated site in Minamata, Japan. The objective of the Convention is to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.

Article 12 of the Convention urges signatories to endeavor to cooperate in developing strategies and implementing activities for identifying, assessing, prioritizing, managing and, as appropriate, remediating contaminated sites and assessing health risks.

Read the entire press release in English, español and français. 

6 November:

IPEN-ZMWG SIde Event on Mercury Trade and Supply

This side event included presentations from Lee Bell (IPEN Mercury Policy Advisor), Yuyun Ismawati (BaliFokus, Indonesia), Richard Gutierrez (BAN Toxics, Philippines) and Peter Ayuk Enoh, Director of Standards and Control Department, Ministry of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development, Cameroon. Amongst other items, presentations highlighted previous studies done on mercury inventories and trade in the ASGM sector, revealing that mercury enters countries through both legal and illegal channels. The side event also addressed who functions as mercury traders (dental clinics, pawnshops, gold buyers, and drug dealers), and focused on the needs to: improve tracking data so that surplus mercury from chlor alkali facilities and other sources are not re-exported for unpermitted uses; harmonize global data, labelling and tracking processes; educate customs control officers; and recognize and involve transit countries.

6 November:

IPEN Intervention on Artisanal and Small-Scale Goldmining (ASGM)

4 November: 

IPEN and Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH) held a press conference at the headquarters of the Thai Journalists’ Association. Some 20 newspaper and TV reporters attended. The event drew attention to the mercury pollution issues in Thailand, particularly mercury emissions from coal power plants and other industrial sources such as petroleum and gas production and waste incineration. The testimonies by community leaders from Krabi and Tha Tum provided first-hand accounts on how mercury pollution is affecting the public health and the environment due to the operation of coal plants, the top mercury emitter as per the Thai government’s inventory. Last year, EARTH, in collaboration with IPEN and the BRI, sampled human hair and fish in Tha Thum, which detected elevated levels of mercury above the US reference limit for hair and Thai limit for fish, compelling government agencies to investigate and subsequently form a tri-party monitoring committee.

At the press conference, EARTH chided the Thai government for failing to sign the Minamata Convention on Mercury and asked the authorities to immediately ratify it. EARTH likewise demanded for the inclusion of mercury in the pilot Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) project being implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Pollution Control Board in one industrial area.

Additionally, IPENer Tani Yoichi from the Collaboration Center for Minamata Disease Victims in Japan spoke about the Minamata mass mercury poisoning tragedy and the need for global action to prevent it from recurring elsewhere. 

IPEN expressed support for the health and well-being of the pollution affected villages, saying it is “concerned about the visible and invisible contamination impacting Tha Tum and many others,” as it “call(ed) on all governments to identify contaminated sites and protect families and their local environments from mercury pollution.” At the press conference and the ensuing interview with PBS TV, IPEN drew attention to three key action points for the government of Thailand, as well as for other governments, to act on: 1) ratify the mercury treaty, 2) identify mercury pollution sources and draw up action plans, and 3) apply the lessons of the Minamata tragedy.

News article in TCIJ Thai: เครือข่ายต้านมลพิษไทย- เทศจี้เร่งทำภาคยานุวัติ คุมสารปรอท  

4 November:

IPEN Intervention and Position on Contaminated Sites 

3 November:

IPEN Intervention on Mercury in Supply and Trade

IPEN Opening Statement