ENHANCING ENHANCING SYNERGIES AMONG SYNERGIES AMONG THE BASEL, THE BASEL, ROTTERDAM AND ROTTERDAM AND STOCKHOLM STOCKHOLM CONVENTIONSCONVENTIONS

Simultaneous Extraordinary Meetings of the COPs

Basel Convention Rotterdam Convention Stockholm Convention

Global chemicals & waste conventions:

A lifecycle approach

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Preparations for the ExCOPs

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The ExCOPs will take place in Bali International Convention Centre, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, 22-24 February 2010.

A committee to advise the UNEP ED and FAO DG on the preparations for the ExCOPs, composed of 5 bureau members from each of the COPs of the three conventions, met on 20 July 2009 in Geneva and on 24 October in Bangkok (these reports are available).

The invitation and agenda for the ExCOPs were distributed in early November 2009.

Pre-session documents were made available on 11 January 2010 – six weeks in advance of the meetings.

ExCOPs funding/participation US$ 890,00 has been raised for participant

travel to the ExCOPs by UNEP This will funding will cover the travel of up to

2 representatives per eligible country The secretariats are beginning to send out

confirmations to funded participants this week To date: 127 countries and 1 REIO have

registered; 101 of these countries are developing countries or countries with economies in transition and have requested funding

The weekend before the ExCOPs Registration will start on Saturday and will be

open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm throughout the meetings

It will be possible register for the UNEP GCSS/GMEF at the same time

Preparatory meetings (Saturday/Sunday) Meetings of the bureaux of each COP Joint meeting of the bureaux of the COPs Major groups and stakeholders meeting (Sunday

and Monday-focus on ExCOPs on Sunday) Regional meetings

Organization of the ExCOPs (1)

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Initial simultaneous sessions of the ExCOPs to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions will take place on Monday morning

Open ended joint working group of the three ExCOPs (OEJWG) to prepare draft decisions on the substantive issues (Agenda item 4) will start after plenary on Monday morning and end at the close of the Tuesday afternoon session.

Official and correct credentials must be submitted to the secretariats by 10:00 am on Tuesday

Organization of the ExCOPs (2) All work on reports and documents to the be

submitted from the OEJWG to plenary must be complete by 8:00 pm on Tuesday night to allow for editing and translation over night

Final simultaneous sessions of the three ExCOPs to adopt decisions and reports will be held on Wednesday from 8:00-9:30 am

The meeting must end on time since the UNEP GCSS/ GMEF will begin at 10:00 am on Wednesday

Substantive issues on the ExCOPs agenda

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Final decisions on joint services Decisions on joint activities Decisions on joint management Decision on synchronizing budget cycles Decision on joint audits Decisions on review mechanisms and follow up Reports on information received by ED of UNEP

and the secretariats on activities or proposals for joint institutions

Joint services9

Joint services for the three secretariats have been established on an interim basis for financial and administrative support, resource mobilization, legal, information and information technology.

The ExCOPs will need to decide on the long-term establishment of the joint services.

In addition the ExCOPs may wish to: Invite the Executive Director of UNEP to fund the position of

the head of the joint services from program support costs Establish the post of resource mobilization officer and

provide the resources needed to do so Provide funding needed for the integration of information

technology platforms of the three secretariats

Joint services: benefits to Parties The ultimate objective is improving support and services to

Parties Efforts were made to maximize the effective and efficient use of

resources and existing services amongst the three secretariats, in line with the agreed guiding principles on coordination and cooperation.

Efforts towards greater coordination have resulted in a better pool of available support and expertise; better continuity of services; uniformity of procedures; tools to facilitating joint planning; more efficient use of staff skills.

Gains in effectiveness and efficiency will free up the capacity of the technical staff to provide support to Parties in implementing the Convention

As some activities requested under the synergies process are new activities, (i.e. establishment of a joint clearing house mechanism + a joint resource mobilization service), some initial resources will be required to achieve effective operational synergies in these areas.

Joint activities (1)11

Cooperation between the three conventions has taken place over the years but the synergies process led to more deliberate efforts to “think synergies first” before starting any new project or program.

The work of the secretariats on joint activities focuses on supporting the regional and national implementation of the conventions and on delivering efficient and coordinated services to Parties (see annex to document UNEP/FAO/CHW/RC/POPS/EXCOPS.1/2 for the full list).

The secretariats are pursuing opportunities to use existing regional networks and offices for planning, implementation and delivery of joint activities and on the strengthening and development of partnerships with relevant programmes of UNEP, FAO, members of the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals and others for the delivery of cross-cutting activities.

Joint activities (2)12

The ExCOPs may wish to urge Governments that are Parties to the Basel,

Rotterdam or Stockholm Conventions to undertake activities to implement the synergies decisions.

to request the Secretariats to continue their efforts towards the implementation of joint activities and report on the progress at the ordinary meetings of their respective COPs in 2011, and to develop joint proposals for cross‑cutting and joint activities.

to ensure that resources are made available to support joint activities of the Secretariats during the biennium 2010–2011 and to endorse and provide funding for the clearing-house mechanism joint work plan

Joint activities: benefits to Parties

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Joint planning has resulted in enhanced delivery of activities at the regional and national levels and reduced duplication of efforts

Meetings are being held between the national focal points and designated national authorities of all three conventions which have enabled and encouraged key national experts and decision makers to identify national opportunities to forge synergies and foster the life-cycle approach to chemicals management.

Joint cooperation with partners in strengthening chemicals and wastes management in the global environmental agenda, has resulted in increased awareness and support towards the implementation of the three conventions.

Joint use of regional centres, decentralization of activities and more efficient use of scarce resources required to implementation national priorities is being supported through joint activities.

Joint management functions

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Informal joint management group comprising the Executive Secretaries of the three conventions which meets periodically to discuss continuing joint activities and opportunities for enhanced cooperation and coordination among the conventions.

The UNEP Executive Director and FAO Director General commissioned a study to assess various options for the joint management of the secretariats of the three conventions.

The ExCOPs may wish to decide on the options examined in the study : joint coordinating group comprising the Executive Secretaries of the three conventions; or joint head of the Basel, Stockholm and UNEP part of the Rotterdam Convention secretariats

Joint audits/budget synchronization

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Budget decisions taken at the previous meetings of the COPs of the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions provide for the synchronization of the budgets of Basel and Rotterdam Conventions with the budget cycles of UNEP and FAO. The Stockholm Convention was already on the same cycle as those.

Joint audits of the secretariats of the three conventions will be undertaken on a regular basis in accordance with the procedures of UNEP and FAO.

The ExCOPs may wish to take note of the report on the budget cycles and of the current arrangements for joint audits by UNEP and FAO.

Review mechanism/follow up According to the synergies decisions, the ExCOPs are

expected to establish a mechanism and timetable for reviewing the arrangements for joint services, joint activities, joint management, etc., that it adopts.

The ExCOPs may wish: to assess at their ordinary COP meetings in 2011

progress made in implementing the synergies decisions to consider possible elements of review at the 2011 COP

meetings to invite UNEP and FAO to make use of their independent

evaluation units to conduct a joint review on the implementation of the synergies decisions in 2012 for consideration by the COPs of each of the conventions in 2013.

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Reports on information received by the ED of UNEP and the secretariats The Executive Director will report on the

financing of chemicals and waste management initiative

The secretariats will report on any other information received on this issue (no such information has been received to date)

http://excops.unep.ch

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