The Executive Secretary's proposal for the organization of the secretariats of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions as requested per decisions BC-10/29 , RC-5/12 and SC-5/27 is now available.

Our offer of online training has been expanded to address a variety of new issues relevant to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions.

Find more by consulting the schedule of webinars for this year.

Since 2005, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions have undergone a unique development within the world of MEAs, known as “the synergies process”. The synergies process represents the establishment of an unprecedented mechanism for the achievement of coordination and cooperation at all levels; providing Parties, the Secretariats and key partner organizations with a groundbreaking framework that will strengthen the impact of the work of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions at global, regional and national levels.

In launching the synergies process, Parties to the three conventions established the goal of strengthening implementation of each convention while delivering services in an efficient, cost-effective manner. 

Parties accelerated the process in 2010 with the establishment of a joint head for the secretariats of the Basel, Stockholm and UNEP part of the Rotterdam Convention. With a new single Executive Secretary for the parts of the secretariats provided by UNEP, a single, clear point of leadership and responsibility has been created to implement synergies.

A further step was taken in 2011, when Parties invited the newly appointed Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions to submit a proposal for organizing the joint management functions of the secretariats.

A proposal to restructure the secretariats to create a single, integrated secretariat was submitted to the bureaux of the three conventions and posted on the conventions’ webpages in December 2011. Several Parties provided comments on the proposal, and a new structure was implemented by the secretariat in February 2012 ad interim.

The new organizational structure of the secretariat is what is traditionally referred to as a matrix organization.  This means that reporting lines run vertically through the organization, with staff members of broadly similar skills or job functions pooled into the respective branches. Projects, on the other hand, generally are performed by teams, with a team leader, which function horizontally across the organization.

Under the new structure, four branches have been established covering administrative services, convention operations, technical assistance and scientific support. The matrix management approach generally conforms to UNEP’s management structure.

The primary intent of this proposal is to build a structure to better support synergies – in the case of the secretariat this means primarily identifying and implementing efficiencies that translate into increased support to Parties. As such, eliminating redundancies, identifying resource savings, building upon best practices, and strengthening the focus on delivery of services to Parties are key considerations.

The proposal also reflects a preference for a simpler, less hierarchical structure. Such a structure can significantly reduce the number of review and decision-making steps and better empower staff to manage their own work.  This can greatly facilitate teamwork horizontally across the organization, which is essential to a matrix structure.

Of almost equal importance is building a sustainable secretariat. It is intended that new treaties could be added to the structure if that is the wish of governments. Its structure will be buttressed by appropriate management controls to ensure the work is completed on time, is of high quality, and is appropriately budgeted and accounted for.

A sustainable secretariat will also be one having a well trained and regionally and gender balanced staff and management.

The proposal addresses only the UNEP part of the secretariat.  A full proposal to the 2013 COPs may be broader and include the FAO part of the Rotterdam Convention Secretariat and enhancing technical cooperation with FAO in the area of pesticides covered under the three Conventions. Changes to the final proposal would be made, if necessary, and build upon lessons learned from implementing restructuring during 2012.

Clearly the primary goal of this restructuring should be to support the relevant synergies decisions and activities approved by the COPs, as well as to be forward-looking in identifying and implementing additional synergies consistent with Party decisions.  A number of areas where this should occur include:

• Resource saving through the consolidation and integration of like functions, e.g. reduced space and equipment requirements will result in reduced rental and leasing costs;
• Increased efficiency by reducing redundancies, e.g. by eliminating the need for a separate technical assistance or conference management service for each of the three MEAs;
• Improved delivery through the ability to establish coherent teams able to operate in greater depth to serve the needs of Parties;
• Better integration enabling staff to be better able to deliver services related to all three MEAs simultaneously, and consequently better able to influence synergies externally, for example through supporting synergistic projects delivered through regional centres or by IGO partners. 

Farewell to fragmentation

The synergies process of the chemicals and waste MEAs is part of a larger effort aimed at overcoming fragmentation within the global system of environmental governances. It constitutes a unique development in the world of MEAs, as it reflects a strong collective commitment to evolve towards a common vision for change: capitalizing on commonalities, while fully respecting the legal autonomy of each Convention; strengthening existing mechanisms, while at the same time making them more efficient; fostering a regional approach towards the implementation of activities as well as enhancing national and regional capacities required for Parties to develop a more sustainable approach towards the full implementation of the three conventions.

The synergies experience of our conventions may provide a model of how to help defragment the sound management of hazardous chemicals and wastes to benefit human health and the environment.

Progress made by the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions on synergies has made a substantial contribution to the ongoing debate on governance of sustainable development.

How to catalyze synergies at the regional and global levels needs to be considered next.

Costa Rica, a small Central American country, has understood the importance of integrated chemical substance management several years ago. The commitments assumed with the ratification of the different MEAs have encouraged the institutions involved in chemicals management to develop different coordination mechanisms. Those mechanisms need to be sustainable on a long term basis and have characteristics that allow them to withstand governmental changes of government .

Based on these requirements, the Technical Secretariat for the Coordination of Chemical Substance Management was created in 2006 as a support group for the national competent authorities and focal points of the different conventions. The objective of the Secretariat is to provide effective and efficient guidance on national chemicals management issues. Twenty-two institutions representing the government (e .g . customs offices), academia, NGOs and the agricultural and industrial private sectors participate in the work of the Secretariat, making it a meeting point and coordinating body for chemicals management.

The Secretariat meets regularly once a month and extraordinarily when needed . Its work plan was developed based on the work areas suggested by SAICM, adapted according to national priorities. Some elements of the Secretariat’s work plan are risk assessment and risk reduction, the enhancement of the Secretariat and capacity building . The Secretariat receives periodic reports from the convention focal points.

Activities are carried out by work groups or sub-commissions, including work groups on the following topics:

• Pesticide management plans
• Mercury
• Used oils or “sludge”
• Chemical safety including chemical emergencies
• Sustainable purchases
• Illegal traffic
• Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)

Some successful initiatives carried out by the Secretariat are summarized below:

1. Import of sludge: In 2006 the customs service detected an increase of waste oils (sludge) entering Costa Rica by ship without being controlled . Considering that these wastescould be contaminated with heavy metals or PCBs, a sub-commission was created to collect information regarding customs classifications, the amount of waste imported according to the uniform customs declarations and the companies that import and treat the sludge . With this information a technical note for the customs service was developed to regulate the import of these substances through the Basel Convention national competent authority.
2. Chemical emergencies: As a result of an evaluation of the “Hazardous Chemical Substance Management in Costa Rica” done by a sub-commission of the Secretariat, a work plan on chemical emergencies was prepared. This plan includes among its activities the updating of existing regulations related to the transport of hazardous materials, the elaboration of criteria for proper storage, the establishment of an inter-institutional information system, the development of emergency response protocols and the tracking of accidents to enhance lessons learned and training programmes.
3. Information management: A project funded by the SAICM Quick Start Programme is currently under execution to inter-relate existing information on chemicals throughout their entire life cycle in a national information system. This integral management of chemical substances system establishes synergies in the registering, control and follow-up of chemical substances and their wastes, as well as attends properly to technological emergencies.
4. Harmonized customs codes: Customs classification codes have been harmonized through close coordination with the customs service for all chemical substances that are included in international conventions such as the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the Rotterdam Convention, the Stockholm Convention and the Montreal Protocol. This new instrument will allow stricter control of the import of regulated substances and prevent or avoid illegal traffic.

The establishment of the Secretariat has been a valuable and productive experience to enhance national coordination among the focal points of the conventions, including the Montreal Protocol. The interaction between different actors and national focal points has led to the consolidation of a strategic coordination mechanism to such an extent that it has been included in the National Development Plan for the next quadrennial.

In the Republic of Korea, there has been a steady increase in the use of chemicals, including more than 40,000 kinds of chemicals in circulation and the entry of about 400 new chemicals in the Korean market every year. However, some of the chemicals are very harmful to humans and can be the cause of cancer, respiratory disease, nervous system disorder, etc.

Countries started to prohibit and restrict the import/export, manufacturing and use of raw materials, products and wastes of certain hazardous chemicals through the Basel Convention, the Rotterdam Convention, and the Stockholm Convention. The Republic of Korea has ratified these three conventions in its domestic law and is implementing policies to manage hazardous chemicals and wastes.

The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions share the common vision of effective manageﾭment of hazardous chemicals and wastes, but each convention has a different background concerning substances, management purposes, etc. In order to implement the conventions, the Republic of Korea ﾭment methods foreseen in the conventions. For example, the Stockholm Convention prohibits the import and export of hazardous substances, such as Aldrin and Eldrin, but it is difficult to manage those substances given that the registration or approval procedures of the substances are not specified. In addition, the Basel Convention restricts the import and export of wastes containing for example PCBs, but the disposal of those wastes is not prescribed in detail. In other words, if there is no appropriate treatment technology available domestically or abroad, the wastes cannot be disposed and should be stored appropriately.

The Republic of Korea amended the Toxic Chemicals Control Act to establish a system that met the purpose of prohibiting the import and export of certain substances under the Stockholm Convention. To achieve this, certain substances under the Rotterdam Convention and the Stockholm Convention were classified and listed as prohibited or restricted substances and prior notifications were requested for exporting these substances.

In addition, the Persistent Organic Pollutants Management Act was passed and a technology for waste transformers containing PCBs was specified to allow appropriate disposal of wastes containingﾭing technologies for waste transformers containing PCBs, which had been controversial before, were verified, and the specialization of chemical and cleaning treatments was enhanced with the establishﾭment of 12 special treatment companies in Korea . As a result, about 140,000 waste transformers were disposed of in 2010. In order to reduce the environmental pollution in the world caused by the export of waste transformers containing PCBs, there are plans to implement the management policies on used products containing persistent organic pollutants (pending the National Assembly’s approval of the bill).

The Republic of Korea is striving to achieve close cooperation by integrating issues related to the Stockholm Convention and the Rotterdam Convention at the level of the Chemicals Manageﾭment Division of the Ministry of Environment. On the other hand, the Resource Recirculation Policy Division of the Ministry of Environment is responsible for the affairs related to the Basel Convention.

The three conventions are different in terms of concerned substances and management methods, but they have the common vision of reducing risks of hazardous chemicals and wastes to human health and the environment. In order to achieve their shared aim, it is necessary to classify common criteria to unify the management plan and establish policies that the stakeholders can understand easily and implement smoothly. The Republic of Korea will work towards minimizing the redundancy and inefficiency of policies to ensure the environmental pollution caused by chemicals and wastes is reduced.