Green Days by the EPPD

Wednesday, 8 April 2020

All workshop participants (Photo Courtesy BCRC-Caribbean)

Regional Training Workshop on the Article 15 reporting requirements under the Stockholm Convention (SC)

A 3-day regional workshop was hosted by the Basel Convention Regional Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the Caribbean (BCRC-Caribbean) targeting training on the Article 15 reporting requirements under the Stockholm Convention (SC). The BCRC-Caribbean is the Executing Agency for the GEF 5558 project entitled “Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean” which aims at building capacity in the region to manage POPs and UPOPs in the eight (8) participating countries. Activity 1.2.4 of the project includes the conduction of a training needs assessment and provision of the requisite training to these participating countries on a regional basis. It as through this Activity that training on the Article 15 reporting requirements under the SC was identified as a priority area, thereby prompting the advent of this workshop, sufficiently ahead of the Fifth Reporting Cycle in 2022.

Held on January 28 – 30, 2020 at the Hilton Trinidad & Conference Centre, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago ,the workshop was facilitated by Mrs. Carla Valle-Klann (Programme Officer - the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Secretariat) and Mrs. Mihaela Paun International Consultant (United Nations Environment Programme, Chemicals and Health Branch). In attendance were the Official Contact Point (OCP) and/or National Focal Point (NFP) representatives per participating country (or their alternates) which included all fourteen (14) of the countries served under the BCRC-Caribbean, as well as staff of the BCRC-Caribbean.

This workshop was aimed at improving the understanding on the reporting obligations and the Electronic Reporting System (ERS) under the SC and increasing understanding on the inter-linkages between National Implementation Plan (NIP) generated information/data and reporting obligations. The 3 days featured presentations by the BRS Secretariat, UNEP and even a few of the participating countries. The workshop also provided a platform for interactive discussions where countries shared success stories and challenges on reporting.

Moreover, a practical exercise on information/data compilation and completion of the latest version of the Article 15 reporting format was conducted via an online ERS demo. This exercise triggered troubleshooting queries and suggested improvements to the online interface, as well as highlighted a need for a more coordinated approach between the NIP update and reporting.

Some of the outcomes of the workshop highlighted the need to implement procedures for quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) to verify the validity of data collected whilst also, allowing for synergy among reporting teams of other Multilateral Environmental Agreements which cover similar emission sources to share data and best practices.

Upcoming:

The UNEP representative gave an overview of a GEF funded project - Integrated SC Toolkit (triggered by COP 8&9 decisions) which is in the development stage and expected to be finalized by BRS COP in 2021. It aims at improving transmission, access and use of data contained in the NIP and the National Reports using a highly integrated 4 Module System (NIP Module, ERS Module, Data Inventory Module, Guidance Module).