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UNITED NATIONS RC UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/25/Add.1 Distr. General 20 April 2011 United Nations Original: English Environment Programme Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade Conference of the Parties Fifth meeting Geneva, 20–24 June 2011 Item 6 of the provisional agenda* Enhancing cooperation and coordination among the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions Enhancing cooperation and coordination among the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions Addendum Joint activities Note by the Secretariat Introduction 1. Decisions BC.Ex-1/1 of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, RC.Ex-1/1 of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and SC.Ex-1/1 of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the “omnibus decisions”) were adopted by the conferences of the parties to the three conventions at their simultaneous extraordinary meetings, in February 2010. In section I of those decisions, on joint activities, the conferences of the parties invited various stakeholders to undertake cooperative and coordinated activities to implement decision IX/10 of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, decision RC-4/11 of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention and decision SC-4/34 of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention, hereinafter referred to as the “synergies decisions”. I. Implementation 2. Information on joint activities carried out by the secretariats of the three conventions during 2009 and 2010 to support the implementation of the conventions by parties and other stakeholders is available in document UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/INF/11, organized according to the following activities of the secretariats mandated by the synergies decisions: * UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/1/Rev.1. K1170560 090511 UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/25/Add.1 (a) Organizational issues in the field (covered in section I of the synergies decisions): (i) Coordination at the national level (paragraph 4); (ii) Programmatic cooperation in the field (paragraphs 10 and 13); (iii) Coordinated use of regional offices and centres (paragraphs 17 and 18); (b) Technical issues (covered in section II of the synergies decisions): (i) National reporting (paragraph 1); (ii) Compliance/non-compliance mechanisms (paragraphs 2 and 3); (iii) Cooperation on technical and scientific issues (paragraphs 4 and 5); (c) Information management and public awareness issues (covered in section III of the synergies decisions): (i) Joint outreach and public awareness (paragraphs 1 and 2); (ii) Information exchange/clearing-house mechanism on health and environmental impacts (paragraph 4); (iii) Joint input into other processes (paragraph 5). 3. The joint planning and delivery of substantive and technical joint activities are performed by the inter-secretariat thematic groups and task teams on technical assistance, regional centres, scientific and technical work, reporting, the clearing-house mechanism and public awareness and outreach, and by a resource mobilization task group. The tasks are carried out in coordination with the parties, and with the assistance of the Basel and Stockholm Convention regional centres, the regional offices of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), other divisions of UNEP, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the World Customs Organization (WCO), among others. 4. In paragraph 5 of section I of the omnibus decisions, the conferences of the parties invited parties, regional centres of the Basel and Stockholm conventions and other stakeholders to exchange experiences, in particular on examples of good coordination practices, through voluntary reports on national and regional activities planned or carried out to implement the synergies decisions. The secretariats sent a letter to parties, regional centres and other stakeholders on 22 September 2010 inviting them to submit such reports. As at 8 March 2011, 37 countries, three regional centres and two non-governmental organizations had done so. The information provided in those reports has been compiled in document UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/INF/12. 5. In paragraph 6 of section I of the omnibus decisions, the conferences of the parties invited UNEP, UNDP, FAO, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other relevant international organizations to report on their efforts to promote programmatic cooperation and coordination in relation to their support for the three conventions at the national level, and on activities carried out or planned to implement the synergies decisions. The information provided in these reports has been compiled in document UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/INF/13. 6. In paragraph 7 of section I of the omnibus decisions, the conferences of the parties invited UNEP and FAO to report on progress made in the development of programmatic cooperation in the field to support the implementation of the three conventions in areas of common concern and the inclusion of such cooperation in their biennial work programmes. The reports received are presented in document UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/INF/14. 7. In accordance with paragraph 11 of section I of the omnibus decisions, the secretariats have developed a report on other clearing-house mechanisms and similar mechanisms in the area of chemicals and wastes, including the clearing-house mechanism of the Strategic Approach, with a description of their basic characteristics and the extent to which they contain elements that could be considered for inclusion in the joint clearing-house mechanism. The report is presented in document UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/INF/15. 8. In line with the synergies and omnibus decisions, the secretariats are undertaking an extensive reconstruction of their clearing-house mechanism functions and tools, with the aim of integrating them into a joint clearing-house mechanism as requested by the parties. A voluntary financial contribution for these activities was received from the Government of Germany in 2010. 2 UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/25/Add.1 9. Joint activities in this area have already produced tangible results, including a new and integrated website platform for all three conventions that features new graphics and shared document management capabilities. Some data and other content have been moved to the common platform from their original websites, resulting in an integrated system that is more user friendly and easier to manage. Other activities under way are the development of a joint portal known as the “Hazardous Chemicals and Wastes Information Centre” and the integration of country and chemical profiles, including information on wastes, which are of common interest to the three conventions. In addition the secretariats are cooperating extensively within the framework of the knowledge management initiative led by the UNEP Division of Environmental Law and Conventions, for which the joint clearing-house mechanism will be a valuable source of information. II. Proposed cross-cutting and joint activities for 2012–2013 10. In accordance with paragraph 9 of section I of the omnibus decisions, the secretariats have developed a proposal for cross-cutting and joint activities for possible inclusion in the programmes of work of the three conventions for 2012–2013. The 21 proposed cross-cutting and joint activities are described in annex I to the present note. 11. Information on each activity includes its title, objective, indicators of achievement, expected outputs, methods of implementation, partners, required budget and a short description. Non-staff costs for each joint activity are to be shared between the three conventions in accordance with the budget proposals presented separately to each Conference of the Parties.1 12. The proposed programme budget for 2012–2013 as presented in document UNEP/FAO/RC/COP.5/24 and Add.1 has been organized into eight areas: technical assistance; scientific and technical matters; regional centres; the clearing-house mechanism; public awareness, outreach and publications; reporting; the brokering service; and overall management. 13. The secretariats have developed a revised joint workplan for the development of a clearing-house mechanism serving the three conventions, which is set out in annex II to the present note. Possible action by the Conference of the Parties 14. The Conference of the Parties may wish to include in its decision on enhancing cooperation and coordination among the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions the following paragraphs, with any amendments: I. Joint activities 1. Takes note of the information provided in the note by the Secretariat on joint activities2 and its related information documents;3 2. Also takes note of the progress made in enhancing cooperation and coordination among the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions; 3. Approves, with any amendments, the proposed cross-cutting and joint activities for possible inclusion in the programmes of work of the three secretariats for 2012–2013 set out in annex I to the note