PH Advocates Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste in Global Conference on Environment
Ambassador Evan P. Garcia heads the Philippine delegation attending the Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions in Geneva from April 24 to May 05, 2017.
02 May 2017 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — The sound management of chemicals and wastes will constitute the mandate of the Philippine Delegation to the two-week Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, which opened in Geneva on April 24 with the theme, “A Future Detoxified.”
The Philippine delegation, composed of officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, shall actively take part in plenary discussions and contact group meetings on agenda items covering the listing of chemicals in the annexes of the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and the technical and compliance mechanisms of the Basel Convention.
The Basel Convention is the international instrument dealing with the transboundary movement of wastes. The Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, on the other hand, regulate the use of chemicals and persistent organic pollutants in order to ban or restrict harmful ones.
DENR Assistant Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna, a member of the Philippine delegation was among the speakers in a panel discussion on April 25 on shaping the future of the sound management of chemicals and wastes beyond 2020, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Strategic Approach on International Chemicals Management, which identifies 2020 as the target year for ensuring that only safe chemicals are used and produced.
He emphasized the importance of stakeholder consultation in informing the advocacies of the Philippines. “Aware that the civil society, industry groups and the academe are partners in pursuing progress and safeguarding the environment, we make sure that cross-sectoral concerns are integral to the development of national perspectives on the sound management of chemicals and waste.”
For more information, visit www.genevapm.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/genevapcg. END