Towards the Implementation of SAICM in the Americas: Proposed Process and Structure for Development

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Towards the Implementation of SAICM in the
Americas Proposed Process and Structure for
Development of the SAICM LAC RAP/Strategy
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Dr. Thomas ConwayResource Futures International
1945 Fairbanks Ave. Ottawa, Canada K1H 5Y2 Tel
(1)-613-235-4343 Ext 1 Fax [phone] Mobi
le (1)-613-878-4418 TConway_at_rfigroup.com www.rfig
roup.com
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Fundamental RAP Building Assumptions

• Regional initiatives must be country driven to
  succeed
• They should be initiated at the highest political
  levels possible
• They will require ongoing administrative support
  with centralized facilitation to succeed. To this
  effect, an ongoing coordinator should be
  designated
• Domestic contacts that could contribute to a
  regional effort need to be identified. These
  should be at the level of senior civil servants
  who are as independent of political changes as
  possible
• A communication network should be established
  that would serve as a centralized location for
  ongoing contact, dialogue and exchanges of
  information (perhaps also as a clearinghouse
  repository). This network would feed into a
  regional communication process that could also be
  accessed domestically

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Part 1 The Mandate for a LAC RAP
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Record of Decisions

• The first SAICM Regional meeting held in Panama
  City, Panama from February 14-16, 2008
  established the Terms of Reference for a SAICM
  Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) for Latin
  America and the Caribbean (LAC)
• The first meeting of the Regional Coordination
  Committee (RCC) for SAICM LAC was held in Port of
  Spain -Trinidad and Tobago from June 11-13, 2008
• The Port of Spain meeting was held under the
  sponsorship and coordination of the Organization
  of American States Department of Sustainable
  Development (OAS/DSD)

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Record of Decisions

• Meeting stressed the role of the Committee
  regarding
• to facilitate preparations for the development
  of a regional action plan, as necessary, and to
  follow up on its establishment and
  implementation.
• The meeting also stressed the need for a 5 year
  minimum timeframe for achieving preliminary
  results under the proposed SAICM LAC RAP

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Composition of the RCC

• i. The regional focal point
• ii. Regional representatives on the Quick Start
  Programme Executive Board
• iii. One Two SAICM national focal points from
  each of the Latin American and Caribbean
  sub-regions
• iv. One representative from a non-governmental
  organization in each of the following four
  sectors industry, trade union, public interest
  and science
• v. One representative of a key regional
  organization (for example, one that has
  region-wide responsibilities relevant to the
  sound management of chemicals) on a rotational
  basis
• vi. One representative from a participating
  organization of the Inter-Organization Programme
  for the Sound Management of Chemicals with a
  significant regional chemical safety program
• vii. The immediate past SAICM regional focal
  point

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Role of the RCC

• The role of the regional coordinating committee
  is to support the regional focal point in the
  execution of his/her duties as well as to fulfill
  the following responsibilities
• i. To assist the regional focal point and
  regional representatives on the Quick Start
  Programme Executive Board in follow-up efforts
  through inter-session consultations
• ii. To encourage Latin American and Caribbean
  advocacy for the creation of a new GEF focal area
  for chemicals management
• iii. To consider the SAICM Global Plan of Action
  from time to time, and identify new issues for
  their possible inclusion
• iv. To assist the regional focal point in
  preparing, as appropriate, draft regional
  position papers for submission to the region,
  ministerial conferences and the International
  Conference on Chemicals Management

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Role of the RCC

• v. To serve as conduits for the views of
  sub-regions on SAICM implementation
• vi. To facilitate reporting on SAICM
  implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean
  and on the provision of resources to support such
  implementation
• vii. To facilitate preparations for the
  development of a regional action plan, as
  necessary, and to follow up on its establishment
  and implementation

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OAS DSD Regional Fact Finding

• The Sound Management of Chemicals in the
  Caribbean
• Castries, Saint Lucia
• October 29-31, 2007
• Tended to highlight Obsolete Pesticide Stockpiles
  (POPs) but also other issues
• Legal Assessment Report on PTS as applied to
  Chili (case study for South America)
• Legal Assessment report on PTS as applied to
  Nicaragua (case study for Central America)
• Cumulative Report on Central and South America
  (Chili and Nicaragua)
• Tended to highlight (1) Policy and Capacity
  building for Chemicals Notification and
  Registration Systems GHS and REACH - (2)
  Trans-boundary  Illicit chemical prevention
  mechanisms

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Regional Coordinating Committee for Latin America
and the CaribbeanTrinidad and Tobago, 11-13 June
2008

• This meeting highlighted the following major
  content issues
• Illegal traffic
• Global Harmonized System (GHS)
• Alternatives for the progressive elimination of
  highly toxic pesticides
• Highly vulnerable and at risk groups
• Risk reduction (Persistent, bio-accumulative and
  toxic chemicals)

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Cross-cutting Issues

• The meeting also highlighted the following
  cross-cutting issues
• To extend and strengthen, at different levels,
  the multi-sectoral participation, including civil
  society, for the implementation of the SAICM,
  taking into account the possibility of
  establishing alliances
• Mobilization of resources for the implementation
  of the SAICM
• Information exchange, capacity building,
  education and sensitizing
• Creation and/or strengthening of national and
  regional capacities (technical, institutional,
  educational, etc.)
• Development and implementation of National Plans

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Part 2Possible Structure and Content of a
SAICM LAC RAP

• Pre-Consultation Concepts Only

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Structure of the Draft RAP

• 1.0 Introduction
• 1.1 Purpose
• 1.2 The sound management of chemicals in brief
• 1.3 Context for this SAICM LAC RAP
• 2.0 Vision Statement
• 3.0 Phase 1 SAICM RAP Priorities in the LAC
  Region
• 3.1 Overview
• 3.2 Our Phase 1 RAP Priority Areas
• 3.3 Rationale
• 4.0 Priority Activity Areas
• 4.1 Structure of Activity Area Descriptions
• 4.2 Activity Area Descriptions
• A. Risk Reduction
• B. Knowledge and Information
• C. Governance
• D. Capacity Building and Technical Cooperation
• E. Illegal International Traffic

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Structure of the Draft RAP

• 5.0 Financial Considerations
• 6.0 Scheduling (Subject to extensive
  consultation)
• 7.0 Taking Stock of Progress
• Annex 1 Latin America and the Caribbean
  Countries

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Possible Vision Statement (partial extract)

• SAICM LAC is committed to working towards
  implementation of the WSSD goal of sound
  chemicals management by 2020 consistent with
  SAICMs voluntary framework. While the LAC
  region acknowledges that RAPs developed under
  SAICM are not legally binding upon any one or all
  of the participating countries, there is a
  national commitment by a representative number of
  our countries and an equally determined resolve
  by regional leaders in this important
  environmental initiative to work diligently
  through this RAP to advance significant
  improvements for the sound management of
  chemicals in the region

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Possible Statement of Major Priority Area for
First Five Years

• The SAICM LAC region will prioritize its
  activities in this Phase 1 RAP on further
  protecting our populations and environments from
  substances that are known to be persistent,
  bioaccumulative and toxic (PBTs), and hazardous
  chemical wastes. To achieve this, an emphasis
  will be placed upon
• Strengthening information and knowledge resources
  about PBTs in our jurisdictions consistent with
  and in addition to what is required by the
  Stockholm Convention, and hazardous wastes
  consistent with the Basel Convention
• Identifying and improving upon governance gaps
  with respect to the control of PBTs and hazardous
  chemical wastes in our jurisdictions and
• Identifying and developing approaches to address
  infrastructural gaps within our jurisdictions as
  applicable to managing PBTs and hazardous
  chemical wastes

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Proposed Major Activity Areas
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Major Activity Areas
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Cross-Cutting Issues
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Part 3Proposed Consultation and Support
Processes
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Proposed Consultation Process

• Discuss the concept at Caribbean regional
  meeting, Barbados
• Share with the Regional Coordination Committee
  (RCC) for SAICM LAC for their input into the
  papers contents and the proposed RAP
  consultation process
• Revise based on comments received from the RCC
• Distribute to SAICM LAC countries for comment
  through various consultation venues
• Use one or more regional (or sub-regional)
  workshops to finalize the SAICM LAC RAP
  (depending on available funding) and to receive
  formal country support in the region
• LAC RAP is the subject of input to international
  SAICM processes and to the Health and Environment
  Ministers processes in the region for formal
  high-level buy-in

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Country Ownership and the Support of Development
Partners

• The consultation paper for the SAICM LAC RAP
  follows the principle of country driven
  programming. It has been designed specifically
  for consultation with SAICM LAC countries about
  their regional SAICM implementation priorities
• That said, international agencies working in the
  area of the sound management of chemicals have
  programmes in place to support countries in SAICM
  implementation
• It is also important to note that donor agencies
  (bilateral and multilateral) make extensive use
  of formally approved planning documents as a way
  to target their support to countries
• For this reason, it is in the interest of
  countries to be clear about their regional SAICM
  implementation priorities at a senior level, such
  as in the case of a SAICM LAC RAP

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OAS/DSD Support Objectives

• The OAS/DSD, with some preliminary foresight on
  possible contents for a SAICM LAC RAP, held an
  SMC inter-agency coordination meeting on Dec 3rd,
  2008 at the OAS headquarters in Washington, DC
• Meeting aimed at (1) identifying the scope and
  nature of SAICM and SMC related activities being
  carried out by partner agencies and (2) reaching
  consensus on the most appropriate role and level
  of involvement for the OAS, that are consistent
  with the organizations SMC related mandates and
  with the SAICMs goals and mechanisms
• Informative presentations by representatives of
  the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP),
  the World Bank (WB), the United Nations
  Development Programme (UNDP) and Resource Future
  Internationals (RFI) on behalf of the OAS/DSD -
  and subsequent discussions

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OAS/DSD Support Objectives

• The meeting broadly concluded that OAS was
  uniquely positioned to support possible SAICM LAC
  RAP implementation and related SMC activities
  with respect to
• Supporting national policy development and
  implementation mechanisms pertaining to SAICM, by
  virtue of
• its hemispheric reach
• well established mechanisms for policy dialogue
  among development partners at the national,
  regional and hemispheric levels, notably among,
  Governments, businesses and with civil society
  and
• the integrated nature of its diverse operations
  which offer opportunities for functional linkages
  in SAICM-related areas, such as health,
  environment, risk management, and public
  security, all of which are acknowledged as
  necessary for achieving the regional
  coordination mechanisms needed for the effective
  implementation of SAICM

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OAS/DSD Support Objectives

• Promoting the integration and involvement of the
  private sector/chemical industry and civil
  societies in the SMC process through
  establishing agreed-upon cooperation mechanisms
  for addressing the life-cycle management of
  chemicals
• Assisting the countries in regional information
  gathering and sharing

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Part 4 Key Questions of Process and Authority
for the Workshop to Consider
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Key Questions of Process and Authority
Authoritative Agreement on RAP Priorities and
Targets
Mobilizing Resources
Coordination and Facilitation
Bottom Up Buy-In

• Through the Regional Coordinating Committee? Or
  what?
• What/who performs the Secretariat Function for
  the RCC?

• What process will be used?
• How do you know when you have a critical mass of
  LAC countries on board?

• Who agrees to the RAP and at what authoritative
  level?
• Is it HEMA?
• Something else?

• Is this done at the national level only?
• Programmatically at the regional level?
• Both?
• How?

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Coordination and Facilitation
And other players Who keeps this all together
and moving as a RAP to assist countries in the
region to achieve the 2020 Goal for SMC?
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A Secretariat Function?

• The RCC ToRs are basically silent on these issues
• Is there an intention to have a stable
  Secretariat function for the RCC and for SAICM
  LAC RAP facilitation and oversight?
• Does it matter?
• I would suggest it matters a great dealwithout
  it, the RAP will likely be a paper exercise only
• What is the solution?
• This will be something for the RCC to propose and
  present to countries in the region
• Before hesitating about that required effort, can
  you name one RAP in the area of the environment
  that has been adequately followed-up on without
  this function?
• I would suggest you will be searching for a long
  time

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Bottom-up Buy-in
How is this process going to work? How will you
know when you have adequate buy-in? Is there a
threshold number of countries we want to
sign-on? By sub-region? How do they formally
buy-in?
I would suggest that these issues must be clearly
thought through to have a chance at success
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Hierarchy of Authoritative Agreement on RAP
Priorities and Targets
Is it HEMA? What is the timing? Etc
Increasing difficulty and importance
As noted earlier, how does that happen?
SAICM LAC RAP Draft Only
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Mobilizing Resources What is the RAP Bringing
to the Table
SAICM priorities are achieved when country
buy-in and commitment (including national
budgetary commitment) is partnered with
technical and financial assistance
Technical capacity is where interagency
cooperation and coordination will be key to
assist countries with implementation activities
Financial capacity looms large in the gears of a
RAP

• Are we seeking
• New national budgetary commitments
• Bilateral donors
• GEF Window
• All? What?

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Thank you