IPEN

A recent legal opinion from the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation Law Corporation has determined Canada’s refusal to repatriate 103 shipping containers of garbage illegally dumped in the Philippines in 2013 and 2014 to be in violation of the Basel Convention.

Read the letter and legal opinion that has been sent by IPEN and partner NGOs Right On Canada, Canadian Environmental Law Association, EcoWaste Coalition, and Basel Action Network to Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau about this issue, which is not just a legal matter, but also a moral issue that demonstrates Canada’s level of respect for the citizens of developing countries and how the nation demonstrates proper conduct. Leaving Canada’s garbage in another country for five years reveals values that clash with moral responsibility.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30933768

Lee Bell ESD, IPEN's Mercury Policy Advisor, and Jindrich Petrlik RNDr., Chair of IPEN's Dioxin, PCBs and Waste Working Group and Director of Arnika's Toxics and Waste Programme, have contributed to a new paper that addresses POPs-contaminated sites and the need for stringent soil standards:

(français, español, 中文 / English / عربى )
Non-combustion techniques for the destruction of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) waste such as PCBs, dioxins and brominated flame retardants are urgently needed to destroy the world's growing stockpile of materials contaminated with the most dangerous contaminants on earth. Using incineration and cement kilns to attempt to destroy POPs only leads to the generation of more unintentionally produced POPs (UPOPs) in their emissions and solid waste. This new technical briefing paper from IPEN describes non-combustion techniques that have been commercialised and proven for the destruction of POPs. They are also considered to be more readily applicable to developing countries due to their less intensive capital and infrastructure requirements.

Read more about IPEN's vision for the future of chemical safety in our Perspectives for OEWG-3 here.

Learn more about IPEN's activities during the OEWG-3 here.

The Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) will hold its 3rd Meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG-3) from 2- 4 April, 2019 in Montevideo, Uruguay and IPEN will participate. SAICM is the only international agreement that addresses the full range of known and newly discovered health and environmental concerns associated with the production and use of chemicals. The 2006 decision that established SAICM expires in 2020 and now there is a global process (the "Beyond 2020" process) to determine what comes next.

The Beyond 2020 process has one required result: It must, “develop recommendations regarding measurable objectives in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” In response, the IPEN Steering Committee adopted a one-page Toxics-Free Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Pledge in October 2018 that explains actions for a toxics-free future that are essential for sustainable development. This reflects a series of papers on relevant Beyond 2020 topics developed by IPEN and the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) in 2017, including measurable objectives in support of Agenda 2030.