2nd African Regional Meeting on SAICM
Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, 16 -17 July 2008
Supporting SAICM implementation:Pilot projects, guidance materials, and related activities
Chemicals and Waste Management Programme, UNITAR
2
Overview of presentation
UNITAR overview
Strengthening the foundation for chemicals management: enabling activities
Key methodologies/concepts
Selected projects
3
UNITAR: Assisting countries with SAICM enabling activities
UNITAR provides a variety of services to assist with capacity development related to SAICM enabling activities
Experience gained in over 15 years of working with countries to develop integrated chemicals management approaches/ programmes
Coordination with/formal participation of IOMC Participating Organizations and observers; SBC, OPCW, and the SAICM Secretariat
A series of guidance and training materials used in over 100 countries currently being updated, and new materials developed in light of SAICM outcomes
4
Strengthening the foundations of chemicals management
The broad scope and multitude of work areas in SAICM, numerous international agreements on chemicals/wastes, and the almost countless individual commitments each country makes constitutes an enormous challenge
Developing the necessary infrastructure and ensuring needed processes are in place in the country provides an “enabling environment” or “enabling conditions”
IOMC Guide for resource, guidance and training materials now available
5
SAICM enabling activities
Enabling activities can include, inter alia:
National Profile development/updating
National capacity assessments and priority setting
Multi-stakeholder committee/platform development
Information exchange mechanisms
Public participation activities
National SAICM implementation plan development, with full stakeholder participation
Individual action plans on substantive topics of chemicals management – Partnerships between stakeholders are encouraged
Development of Integrated National Programmes
6
SAICM enabling activities
“Implementation of the Strategic Approach could begin with an enabling phase to build necessary capacity, as appropriate, to develop, with relevant stakeholder participation, a national Strategic Approach implementation plan...” (OPS)
“the objective of the Quick Start Programme is to support initial enabling capacity-building and implementation activities…” (Resolution I/4 of the ICCM)
www.unitar.org/cwm/tw
Thematic workshop
8
Thematic workshop outcomes
Developed understanding of challenges and opportunities for SAICM implementation at the national level
Explored options for developing sound governance structures for SAICM implementation
Discussed challenges and opportunities for involving civil society and private sector in national SAICM implementation
Developed understanding on elements of partnerships for sound chemicals management
Provided input to national SAICM pilot projects
9
National Chemicals Management Profiles
www.unitar.org/cwm/np
10
National Chemicals Management Profiles
Overview of national legal, institutional, administrative, and technical infrastructure for national chemicals management
National Profile development process is a key component
Assists in identification of infrastructure-related strengths, weaknesses, and gaps, as well as priority needs for national action and external technical assistance
Baseline against which progress may be judged in meeting specific national or international targets (e.g. SAICM)
11
SAICM and National Chemicals Management Profiles
QSP Strategic Priority:
“development or updating of national chemical profile…”
ICCM Global Plan of Action emphasizes efforts such as:
“assessment of national chemicals management to identify gaps and prioritize actions” (activity 207)
identifying “priority gaps in chemicals management regimes and practices” (activity 121)
12
National Chemicals Management Profiles
Over 100 countries have prepared National Profile or are in process of preparing
Used as starting point for Stockholm Convention NIPs in over 50 countries
Guidance currently being updated in light of SAICM outcomes
National Profile Homepage
13
National Chemicals Management Profiles
14
National SAICM Capacity Assessment
www.unitar.org/cwm/saicm
Purpose of a National SAICM Capacity Assessment
Catalyzes collaboration between government and stakeholders towards understanding and identifying priority needs
Builds on National Profile and other sources (e.g. NIP)
Facilitates identifying priority actions for SAICM implementation
Highlights possible areas for partnership projects between stakeholders
Sets the stage for preparation of a SAICM Implementation Plan which may be linked to an integrated national programme for sound chemicals management
15
16
Government
MajorStakeholder
Group(e.g. Environmental
NGOs)
Major Stakeholder
Group(e.g. Business and Industry)
National SAICMCapacity Assessment
• Governance Framework
• Chemicals Management Issues and Priorities
Urgency & Importance of Taking Action
Concerned Actors
Proposed approach for development of a National SAICM Capacity Assessment
Possible Action
Opportunities for Partnership Projects
Capacity Strengths and Gaps
Proposed areas for the governance assessment
Integrating chemicals management into national development priorities
Sound institutional and programmatic national framework
Effective project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
Legislation and enforcement
Participation of the private sector and civil society in chemicals management
17
Sample worksheet for the governance assessment
18
A.2 A Sound Institutional and Programmatic National Framework
Category
(and related Global Plan of Action
activities)
Level of existing
capacities:High /
Medium / Low
Summary of strengths &
gaps
Possible action
Priority for taking
action:High /
Medium / Low
2.1 Establishing an Inter-ministerial Coordination Mechanism
(56, 166, 195, 197, 252)
Medium
Coordinating mechanism in place but not formalised Ministries of health and finance not participating
Develop a ministerial decree Letter from existing chair to Ministries of Health and Finance
High
Proposed areas for the chemicals management assessment
Information generation and dissemination
Risk Reduction
Education and awareness raising
Accident prevention and control
Analytical and laboratory capacity
19
Proposed steps for the chemicals management assessment
Step 1: (screening) Identifying important and urgent chemicals management issues
Step 2: Conducting in-depth capacity assessment for important and urgent chemicals management issues Capacity gaps, possible action, concerned actors, urgency and
importance
Step 3: Identifying: possible national priorities stakeholder group actions identifying opportunities for partnership projects
20
Sample worksheet for the chemicals management assessment
21
B.1 Information generation and dissemination
Chemicals Management Issue Area
Capacity Gaps Possible Action Concerned Actors Urgency & importance
of taking action:
Hazard Identification, Classification and Labeling (GHS)
(related GPA activities: 11, 22, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 107, 108, 168, 249, 250)
• Lack of legislation • Development of new regulations
• Ministry of Industry• Ministry of Health• Ministry of Labour• Ministry of Transport• Ministry of Agriculture
High
• Lack of labelling in the workplace
• Development of industry labelling standard based on GHS;• Enforcement of relevant legislation
• Business and Industry• Ministry of Labour
High
• Lack of worker and consumer awareness
• Development of training and awareness raising materials
• Business and Industry;• Labour Unions;• Consumer Organizations
High
Proposed structure of the National SAICM Capacity Assessment
1. Executive Summary
2. Summary Assessment: National Governance Structure
3. Summary Assessment: Chemicals Management Issues and Priorities
4. Opportunities for Partnership Projects
5. Annexes: Completed worksheets
22
23
Government
MajorStakeholder
Group(e.g. Environmental
NGOs)
Major Stakeholder
Group(e.g. Business and Industry)
StakeholderAction
National SAICMCapacity Assessment
• Assessment of Governance Framework
• Assessment of Chemicals Management
Issues and Priorities
StakeholderAction
NationalChemicals Management
Programme/SAICM Implementation
Framework
•Governance Framework
•Chemicals Management Action Plans and
Partnership Projects
GovernmentAction
Development of a SAICM Capacity Assessment and National SAICM Implementation Framework
24
UNITAR: Assisting countries with integrated national programmes/enabling activities (QSP)
“National SAICM Pilot Projects” to develop an Integrated National Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste
3 developing countries and 2 countries in economic transition: Belarus, Mongolia, Panama, Pakistan, and Tanzania
Project countries selected by UNITAR/IOMC Project Task Force (June 2006)
Country projects take place over a period of 3 years (2006-2009)
Funded by Government of Switzerland (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)) as a contribution to the QSP
25
UNITAR: Assisting countries with integrated national programmes/enabling activities (QSP)
Previous phases of the Integrated National Programme include: 1997-1999: Argentina, Ghana, Indonesia, Slovenia 2000- 2002: Ecuador, Senegal, Sri Lanka 2004-2005: Armenia, Chad, Jamaica, Jordan
The experience of the pilot countries developing national programmes made a valuable contribution to the process to develop SAICM
The projects built upon experience gained and lessons learned through previous phases/projects on integrated chemicals management
26
National SAICM Pilot Projects
Develop an Integrated National Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste
Focus on governance, stakeholder participation, and partnerships to support national SAICM implementation
Addresses: priority setting, concrete action (including partnership projects), and mainstreaming
National SAICM Pilot Projects: Key milestones
NationalProfile
and other relevant material
SAICM Capacity Assessment
National Forumon Governance
and Priority Setting
Agreed Governance
Structure
Inter-ministerial Coordination
Stakeholder Involvement
Partnership Project 1
Partnership Project 2
National Review
Workshop
Information Exchange
Mechanism and Website
National Development Planning Process
(ongoing feedback and integration of chemicals and waste management)
……
28
UNITAR: Assisting countries with integrated national programmes/enabling activities (QSP TF)
UNITAR is to date assisting 42 projects on SAICM enabling activities
QSP Round I: Armenia, Burkina Faso, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Haiti, Georgia, Madagascar, Mongolia, Rwanda, São Tomé & Principe, Serbia, and Syria
QSP Round II: Barbados, Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, Chad, Comoros, Eritrea, Kiribati, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malawi, Nepal, Nicaragua, Palestine
QSP Round III: Mali, Liberia, Kenya, Yemen
QSP Round IV: Paraguay, Guyana, Bahrain, Georgia, Civil Society project (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia)
29
Core components of UNITAR-assisted QSP TF projects
NationalProfile
Development/Updating
SAICM Capacity Assessment
National Priority Setting Workshop
GovernanceAssessment
GovernancePriorities
Chemicals ManagementPriority Setting
ChemicalsManagementAssessment
Next steps towards developing and integrated national programme and mainstreaming sound management of chemicals in national strategies…
30
Other components of some UNITAR-assisted QSP TF projects
Developing a National Profile
Holding a National SAICM Forum and developing a national policy on SAICM implementation
Developing a national chemicals management database
Undertaking awareness raising
Developing and strengthening national legislation and policies for the sound management of chemicals
Strengthen inter-agency and inter-ministerial cooperation
Developing action plans and partnership projects
31
Conclusions
Strong national foundation is essential for effective SAICM implementation
Work is ongoing with support through broader QSP and also QSPTF
Support to date of Government of Switzerland and QSPTF highly appreciated
UNITAR stands ready to assist additional countries with SAICM enabling activities and implementation of “substantive” areas
Demand FAR exceeds supply – over 50 formal requests for assistance on record
