Swiss call for global environmental goals
Switzerland has welcomed the interest shown in its proposal to create a list of global environmental goals, made at a meeting of environment ministers in Dubai.
The meeting, which concluded on Thursday, was attended by Swiss environment minister Moritz Leuenberger, who called for concrete, measurable objectives for international environment policy.
Leuenberger addressed almost 130 environment ministers at the 9th Special Session of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum.
The minister said his proposal, which Switzerland wants to become part of the UNEP mandate, should contain precise targets, similar to the United Nations’ development goals.
Franz Perrez, head of global affairs at the Federal Environment Office, told swissinfo that the suggestion “was taken up with much interest”.
He added that some countries had indicated that this was quite an ambitious proposal “although the United States was actually the only one that specifically said it was not ready to support it”.
Perrez said Switzerland would continue to work on the idea and was planning to organise a gathering near Geneva later this year with some of the key players.
“We will then make a formal proposal at next year’s UNEP governing council,” he said.
Dubai Declaration
At a chemicals conference immediately prior to the environment forum, officials agreed on an initiative on making chemicals safer for humans and the environment.
The Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) initiative, dubbed the Dubai Declaration, aims to create a global standard for the safe use of chemicals, especially as much of their production has shifted to developing countries.
Under the initiative – “definitely the main outcome of the conference,” according to Perrez – countries are to coordinate their risk assessment of chemicals, harmonise labelling and tackle the dangers of outdated and stockpiled products.
Perrez said that the Dubai Declaration’s secretariat would be based in Geneva, underlining the city’s importance in international chemical and waste policy.
At present, the three most important conventions dealing with hazardous waste and chemicals have their secretariats in Geneva.
UNEP also announced that $10 million (SFr13 million) had been pledged to Quick Start, a programme aimed at giving financial support to developing countries to handle chemicals safely. Switzerland has pledged SFr3 million ($2.3 million) to the project.
Mixed reaction
However, some environmental organisations, such as the WWF, said the Dubai Declaration fell short of expectations.
“The final outcomes of the Dubai negotiations are extremely disappointing, with the results akin to achieving a half loaf of bread, not well baked,” said Clifton Curtis, director of the WWF’s global toxics programme.
He said despite the agreement being legally non-binding, the US and other governments had insisted on watering it down.
“It needs to be more ambitious,” Curtis said. “It should be a flexible toolbox of actions.”
swissinfo
The three most important conventions dealing with hazardous waste and chemicals have their secretariats in Geneva.
The Rotterdam Convention, in force since 2004, covers the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals. It stipulates that the export of the most dangerous pesticides and chemicals can only be authorised with the “prior informed consent” (PIC) of the receiving country.
The Stockholm Convention aims to introduce a worldwide ban on the production and use of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), which are harmful chemicals in the environment that build up through the food chain.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is a comprehensive global environmental agreement on hazardous and other wastes.
The 9th Special Session of the UNEP’s Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum took place February 7-9 2006.
The forum was attended by almost 130 environment ministers and 160 countries.
The International Conference on Chemicals Management took place February 4-6 2006.
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