Office of the President

Office of the Chief of Staff

Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development

Environmental Policy as State PolicyEnvironmental Policy as State Policy

The objective of the Secretariat of Environment The objective of the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development (SAyDS) is to and Sustainable Development (SAyDS) is to implement Environmental Policy as State Policy, implement Environmental Policy as State Policy, including all technical features related to State including all technical features related to State environmental policy and management.environmental policy and management.

National Constitution, Section 41: “All inhabitants are entitled to the right to a healthy and balanced environment fit for human development in order that productive activities shall meet present needs without endangering those of future generations; and shall have the duty to preserve it. As a first priority, environmental damage shall bring about the obligation to repair it according to law. (…)

Environmental Policy as State PolicyEnvironmental Policy as State Policy

(...) The authorities shall provide for the protection of this right, the rational use of natural resources, the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage and of biological diversity, and shall also provide for environmental information and education.

The Nation shall regulate the minimum protection standards and budgets for this, and the provinces those necessary to reinforce them, without altering their local jurisdictions.

The entry into the national territory of present or potential dangerous or radioactive waste is forbidden.”

Environmental Policy as State PolicyEnvironmental Policy as State Policy

UNDERSECRETARIAT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL, COMPLIANCE, AND POLLUTION PREVENTION

1. National Directorate of Environmental Control1.1.1. Directorate of Environmental Violations1.1.2. Directorate of Hazardous Waste1.1.2.1. Unit of Trans-boundary Movement of Waste1.1.3 Directorate of Prevention and Environmental Recomposition1.2.1. Technical and Operational Unit of Vehicle Emissions1.2.3. Unit of Chemical Products and Substances1.2.4. Unit of Environmental Contingencies and Emergencies

Organizational ChartOrganizational Chart

The SECRETARIAT OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, through the DIRECTORATE OF HAZARDOUS WASTE, belonging to the NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL, is the enforcement authority and in charge of the supervision of administrative management, as well as the oversight on all measures related to the implementation of current guidelines regarding generation, handling, transportation and final disposal of hazardous waste.

Directorate of Hazardous WasteDirectorate of Hazardous Waste

The SECRETARIAT OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, through the UNIT OF TRANS-BOUNDARY MOVEMENT, belonging to the DIRECTORATE OF HAZARDOUS WASTE, is the local enforcement authority of the Basel Convention (Convention on trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal).

It controls all trans-boundary movement of hazardous and non hazardous waste as per the Convention’s terms and national law.

Its work is carried out with special focus on the consolidation of sustainable development processes. This is done securing supplies for a range of industrial initiatives.

It also operates in constant cooperation with the UNIT OF CHEMICAL PRODUCTS AND SUBSTANCES, which is in charge of the enforcement of the Stockholm Convention (COPs) and the Rotterdam Convention.

Unit of Trans-boundary Movement of WasteUnit of Trans-boundary Movement of Waste

The UNIT OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES AND PRODUCTS coordinates all measures taken by the NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT in everything regarding chemical substances and products within its scope.

To that effect, it complies with the Stockholm Convention on Reduction and Elimination of Persistent Organic Pollutants (COPs), as well as with the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade .

Moreover, it coordinates all those measures with those derived from the compliance with the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.

Unit of Chemical Products and SubstancesUnit of Chemical Products and Substances

Prioritization of Hazardous Waste Management

• Hiring of qualified staff for the administration, technical, legal, and accounting areas. Presently, over 75 people make up the department.

• Creation of the Technical Body of Enforcement and Control

• National Ongoing Training Program

The need for the identification and remediation of polluted sites stems, on the one hand, from concern with the damage to human health and the general environment which may be originated in those sites; and on the other hand from the pressing urgency that urban economic development imposes, as the use of land shifts. These two premises, environmental and socioeconomic, must necessarily result in the sustainable use of the land, essential cornerstone on which the present Program is based.

It must be pointed out that this program in an answer to the challenges presented by the new environmental legal conditions. Indeed, our positive legal framework establishes certain key guidelines which tackle the subject matter of the Program presented hereby.

National Program for Environmental Management of Polluted SitesNational Program for Environmental Management of Polluted Sites

We have sent a commission to the Basel Convention Secretariat. This commission, on control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, complies with these three notifications:

-National definition of hazardous waste.-Prohibition of entering the country with said waste.-National statistics on the matter.

Compliance with the Basel Convention

Thank youThank you

Dr. Raúl VidableDr. Raúl Vidable

Undersecretary of Environmental Control, Compliance and Pollution Prevention

Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable DevelopmentOffice of the Chief of Staff

rvidable@ambiente.gov.arrvidable@ambiente.gov.ar