Brandon Turner
United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
An important milestone for the Convention was the First Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, which took place in May 2005, in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Key decisions were made at this Conference that will set future directions for the Convention. These include decisions on technical assistance, guidance to the financial mechanism, criteria for the regional and sub-regional delivery of assistance, continuation of the BAT-BEP process, national implementation plans (NIPs), the POPs Review Committee, and Party reporting.
As a starting point to assist countries with implementing the Convention, GEF has made available up to 500,000 USD per country for the development of NIPsi. Developing NIPs gives countries a concrete opportunity to identify gaps in their existing infrastructure and to identify their needs related to both POPs and general chemicals management. To date, approximately 125 countries have been approved by GEF to develop NIPs. While most NIPs are still at an early stage, with the first batch due for submission to the Conference of the Parties in May 2006, various lessons have been learned thus far. These include: significant capacity-related gaps in countries related to Convention implementation; a lack of project planning skills in many countries (especially Least Developed Countries); low awareness of POPs amongst the public at large, decision-makers in government, and key stakeholders; and a shortage of resources, both financial and technical, to meet countries’ needs. Related to this is the particular challenge of co-financing for implementation projects.
In addition to GEF assistance, at the international level, a wide variety of efforts are underway to assist countries with implementing the Convention. UNITAR’s POPs Programme, for example, supports developing countries and countries in economic transition to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment. The UNITAR approach to chemicals management embodies the philosophy that, in the medium- to long-term, countries need to develop basic chemicals management infrastructure in order to realise both chemicals-related priorities at the national level, and international commitments such as those made under various conventions and agreements. UNITAR sees the Convention, and the resources that have been generated to-date to assist countries, as an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen chemicals management worldwide.
UNITAR, in close cooperation with GEF Implementing Agencies, the Convention Secretariat, and governments, has assisted some 80 countries to-date with various Convention-related training/skills building and project activities, including: development of comprehensive National Chemicals Management Profiles as an early step in NIP development (over 25 countries); action plan development for NIPs (50 countries); delivering international expertise for all relevant aspects of NIP development (5 countries); and development, in partnership with countries, of key implementation projects, approved by GEF, including on PCB elimination, and future projects on PRTR and GHS implementation related to the Convention.
In addition, UNITAR chairs the IOMC Coordinating Group on POPs, as an active contribution to coordination efforts amongst the many IGOs that play a role to assist countries with Convention implementation.
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1: These funds are made available
on an “expedited” basis; some larger countries have chosen to apply
for larger projects using a longer process.