“Global Agreements for a Healthy Planet: Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste” 2021 Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

 The environmentally sound management of hazardous materials to ensure protection of human health and the environment is the common objective of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions. From July 26 to 30, 2021 over 1,000 delegates convened in the first ever online instalment of the Conference of the Parties to the BRS Conventions, as a result of the exceptional circumstances posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Keima Gardiner, Waste Management Specialist, Ministry of Planning and Development and Head of Delegation, along with Ms. Jiselle Joseph of the Environmental Management Authority and Mr. Hasmath Ali, Ministry of Health represented Trinidad and Tobago in the discussions of the prioritised agenda items in the virtual sessions. These were on: the interim programmes of work and budgets to ensure the continued operations of the Secretariat and the implementation of the Conventions; the financial mechanism and resources under the Stockholm Convention; and the election of officers to the Stockholm Convention Effectiveness Evaluation Committee and the Rotterdam Convention Compliance Committee. In so doing, it provided the country with the opportunity to contribute to proposals, actively influence final decisions adopted, and take note of the substantive and emerging matters to be addressed under the Conventions at the face to face segment, tentatively scheduled for June 2022. Upon suspension of the meeting all of the agenda items were adopted.