Meetings of the COP to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

 

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) were held back-to-back from 4^th to 15^th May, 2015. 

The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, which was represented by Ms. Keima Gardiner, Environmental Engineering Specialist, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources participated as a Party to these three multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), which are commonly referred to as the BRS Conventions. Trinidad and Tobago was amongst  one hundred and sixty-four (164) country Parties in attendance. 

Ms. Gardiner (far left) and Dr. Ahmad Khan; Director, Basel Regional Convention Centre for the Caribbean (far right) participating in the Contact Group on Technical  Assistance and  Financial  Resources

The theme of this year’s COP was ‘From Science to Action, Working for a Safer  Tomorrow’.  The two weeks of discussions at the 2015 Meeting of the BRS COPs focused on inter alia, proposals for the organisation of the Secretariats of the Basel, Rotterdam and  Stockholm Conventions; joint activities for the biennium 2016-2017, budget for the biennium 2016-2017, strategies to improve performance of the respective Conventions and the outcome of strategic issues within the various Conventions.

Trinidad and Tobago reiterated the Government’s commitment towards the operationalisation of the    Basel Convention Regional Centre for the Caribbean, and by extension signaled to the Caribbean region and the  international community, the level of commitment of the country towards the implementation of the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions.