National Follow-Up Seminar on Industrial Chemicals under the Rotterdam Convention

The Basel Convention Regional Centre (BCRC-Caribbean) in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade engaged in a tri-fold programme to address the sound management  of industrial chemicals under the Rotterdam Convention. 

The 3rd phase of this programme entailed a National Follow-Up Seminar in the 3 pilot (Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) for which updates of their Chemical Profiles were completed in June 2015. 

The National Follow-Up Seminar was held on July 22, 2015 at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Centre, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Ms. Keima Gardiner, Environmental Specialist of the Environmental Policy and Planning Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development attended the Seminar.

Objectives  of the meeting included:

• Strengthening  or establishing the National Committee for chemicals management to address the obligations under the Rotterdam Convention
• Refining the National Framework for the management of industrial chemicals developed at the Introductory Workshop which was held in October 2014 and hosted and coordinated by the same two parties.

Also in attendance were representatives from the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board, the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Cooperation Limited (PLIPDECO), along with other relevant local agencies.   

Introductory Workshop on Industrial Chemicals under the Rotterdam Convention

The Basel Convention Regional Centre for the Caribbean (BCRC-Caribbean) hosted an Introductory Workshop on Industrial Chemicals under the Rotterdam Convention for the Caribbean Sub-region, from the 8th to 10th October, 2014 at the Hilton, in Port-of-Spain.

In attendance were representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Mr. Alex Mangwiro of the Secretariat of the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam Convention and Dr. Kersten Gutschmidt of the World Health Organisation (WHO) were also in attendance and acted as the facilitators of the Workshop. Trinidad and Tobago was represented by Ms. Keima Gardiner from the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), as well as representatives from the Chemistry Food and Drugs  Division, Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs. 

 

The overarching aim of the workshop was to utilize a range of activities to aid in increasing awareness of the  Rotterdam Convention, as well as develop and/or strengthen the national framework for the sound management of industrial chemicals.

 

The Workshop comprised of several technical presentations in the morning period, followed by simulation exercises in the afternoon based on the presentations which included: stakeholder identification and import responses for industrial chemicals, risk assessment, and development of a country strategy for the management of a specific chemical using the Rotterdam Convention Resource Toolkit. The Workshop served as a useful platform for networking with the key stakeholders  involved in the management of  industrial chemicals in the country.

 
 

Group shot of all the participants at the Workshop including Ms. Gardiner, EPPD, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (front row, 3rd from the right)