IISD Reporting Services Blog

‘Open-ended Legal and Technical Working Group for the second International Conference on Chemicals Management’ - Highlights for Thursday, 23 October 2008

The dais during the afternoon plenary. L-R: Muhammed Omotola, UNEP; Matthew Gubb, SAICM Secretariat; Informal Discussion Co-Chair Katerina Šepková (Romania); Informal discussion Co-Chair Babajide Alo (Nigeria); and Lesley Onyon, SAICM Secretariat.

 

The first meeting of the Open-Ended Legal and Technical Working Group (OELTWG) of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) convened for its third day, on 23 October 2008, at FAO headquarters, in Rome, Italy.

Delegates held informal discussions on preparations for the second meeting of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM-2) and elected two co-chairs, Babajide Alo (Nigeria) and Kateřina Šepková (Romania), to preside over the informal discussions.

IISD RS coverage of the meeting

European Forest Week - Highlights for Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Chair Johann Georg Dengg (Germany) gaveled the joint UNECE Timber Committee and FAO European Forestry Commission Market Discussions to a close.

 

The joint meeting of the Sixty-sixth session of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Timber Council and Thirty-fourth session of the FAO European Forestry Commission met for its second day on Wednesday, 22 October 2008. During the morning, participants met in plenary and in a parallel meeting of the UNECE Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management that also met in the afternoon.

IISD RS coverage of the meeting

‘Open-ended Legal and Technical Working Group for the second International Conference on Chemicals Management’ - Highlights for Wednesday, 22 October 2008

The dais during the morning plenary. L-R: Muhammed Omotola, UNEP; Matthew Gubb, SAICM Secretariat; OELTWG Chair Osvaldo Alvarez (Chile); and Masa Nagai, UNEP.

 

The first meeting of the Open-Ended Legal and Technical Working Group (OELTWG) of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) convened for its second day, on 22 October 2008, at FAO headquarters, in Rome, Italy. During the morning, delegates heard a report from the contact group on the bureau and subsidiary bodies. Contact group Chair Barry Reville (Australia) reported that progress had been made, but the issue of bureau composition required further discussion and that more time was required to consider subsidiary bodies.

IISD RS coverage of the meeting

European Forest Week - Highlights for Tuesday, 21 October 2008

L-R: Christer Segersteen, CEPF; Teresa Presas, Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI); and Carole Saint-Laurent, IUCN

The first European Forest Week opened on Tuesday, 21 October 2008, in Rome, Italy, during the joint meeting of the Sixty-sixth session of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Timber Committee and the Thirty-fourth session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) European Forestry Commission. During the morning, plenary heard opening statements, addressed organizational matters, and considered the topic of Forests and Climate Change. In the afternoon, participants met in parallel policy dialogues, and the Timber Committee’s Market Discussions.

IISD RS coverage of the meeting

‘Open-ended Legal and Technical Working Group for the second International Conference on Chemicals Management’ - Highlights for Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Members of the SAICM Secretariat during the opening plenary.

 

The first meeting of the Open-Ended Legal and Technical Working Group (OELTWG) of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) convened for its first day on 21 October 2008, at FAO headquarters, in Rome, Italy.

In the morning, Matthew Gubb, SAICM Secretariat, welcomed participants to the first OELTWG. Peter Kenmore, FAO, on behalf of the Director General of the FAO, highlighted the activities of FAO in implementing SAICM.

IISD RS coverage of the meeting

European Forest Week - Highlights for Monday, 20 October 2008

European Forest Week at the FAO atrium.

 

Events to mark the European Forest Week, which was mandated by the 2007 Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forests in Europe, kicked-off across Europe on Monday 20 October 2008. A day-long workshop hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) on the “Roles of Wood in Green Building and Green Building Effects on the Forest Sector in the UNECE Region,” constituted the first of several events scheduled to take place in Rome, Italy.

IISD RS coverage of the meeting

POPRC-4 Summary and Analysis now available!

Chair Arndt (right) and the Secretariat's Fatoumata Ouane (left) guide POPRC members through the adoption of the final report of the meeting.

The fourth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-4) of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) took place from 13-17 October 2008, in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 140 participants attended the meeting, including 28 of 31 Committee members, 57 government and party observers, and 43 representatives from non-governmental organizations. POPRC-4 considered several operational issues, including conflict-of-interest procedures, toxic interactions between POPs, and activities undertaken for effective participation of parties in its work.

Read the Summary and Analysis in HTML or PDF formats

POPRC-4 - Highlights for Friday, 17 October 2008

POPRC-4 voted that endosulfan does satisfy the Annex D criteria.

 

On Friday, POPRC-4 concluded work on its agenda, finalizing explanatory notes to be submitted to COP-4 along with its recommendations for listing nine new chemicals under the Convention, including the four chemicals for which POPRC-4 finalized risk management evaluations: commercial octabromodiphenyl ether (c-octaBDE), pentachlorobenzene (PeCB), and alpha- and beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH). On short-chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), the Committee agreed to forward to POPRC-5 the draft risk profile as amended by the contact group on SCCPs that met throughout the week.

The Committee extensively discussed the drafting group's evaluation of whether endosulfan meets the criteria of Annex D (Information requirements and screening criteria). In the end, the Committee voted to decide that the screening criteria were fulfilled for endosulfan. An intersessional Ad Hoc Working Group was established to prepare a draft risk profile on endosulfan for consideration at POPRC-5. China and India chose not to vote as they were not satisfied with the procedure of a vote on the issue.

IISD RS coverage of the meeting

Linkages Update #115 - Friday, 17 October 2008

POPRC members and observers met in plenary throughout the week.

 

POPRC CONVENES LAST MEETING BEFORE COP4

Geneva, 17 October—The Fourth Meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutant Review Committee (POPRC4) has convened from 13-17 October 2008, in Geneva, Switzerland. Delegates considered, among other agenda items: a draft risk profile for short-chained chlorinated paraffins; proposals to list endosulfan and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) under Annexes A, B or C of the Convention; new information on perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS); and toxic interactions between POPs. This was the Committee's final meeting prior to COP4, which will be held in Geneva in early May 2009.

Read the issue #115 of Linkages Update

Editor’s Note #115 - Linkages Update - Friday, 17 October 2008

Lynn Wagner, Ph.D., Editor, Linkages Update and MEA Bulletin

 

The final countdown to the Poznan Climate Change Conference is on.

Poland has just hosted an informal meeting of environmental ministers in Warsaw, as did Indonesia in Bogor, Indonesia, in October 2007, a month before the December 2007 Bali Climate Change Conference. In September, Argentina hosted the “El Calafate Southern Lights Dialogue,” an informal meeting of ministers and high-level government officials. This was the fourth meeting in a series that held its last meeting in June 2007, in Sweden for the “Midnight Sun Dialogue on Climate Change,” in the lead-up to Bali.

Read the full article