Chemicals
Substances chimiques
Telephone: +41 22 917 12 34
Facsimile: +41 22 797 34 60
E-mail: Chemicals@unep.ch
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CH - 1219 Châtelaine
Geneva, Switzerland
AFRICAN MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT
TENTH REGULAR SESSION,
TRIPOLI, JUNE 2004
INFORMATION PAPER ON CHEMICALS
The Chemical paradigm: benefit/cost
Chemicals are a benefit to society. Their production and use fuel economic development, help protect human
health and produce commodities that are essential to modern life. Globally, production and trade in chemicals
is measured in billions of dollars, and represents 14 % of the imports/exports in OECD countries and 12 % of
the GDP.
However, several chemicals threaten the health of humans and wildlife. They are released to the environment
during manufacture, transportation, use, disposal and accidents. Every day, every living being is exposed to
chemicals, and the very characteristics that make chemical products the most useful also lead to adverse
effects when these products are carelessly handled, exerting acute poisoning and chronic effects, which are
usually more severe in vulnerable groups, especially in women, children and the poor and malnourished.
Although the burden of illness related to chemicals is unknown, the weight of evidence from laboratory,
animal and human epidemiological studies suggests important impairment because of these exposures.
Certain chemicals released into the environment in one part of the planet can travel thousands of miles, to the
far poles, even to the stratosphere. Persistent organic compounds such as DDT and PCBs last for very long
periods, accumulating in living beings, and are passed on in breast milk to the newborn or in food to
consumers. Today, there are seriously disturbing questions about the ability of some chemicals to mimic
hormones and disrupt reproductive systems, potentially endangering the very ability of life to continue
unimpaired.
Environmentally unsound chemical and waste practices erode the very resources on which development
depends. A polluted body of water damages the fishing industry. A city beset by smog experiences higher
health care costs. Land polluted with toxic waste becomes waste land, impeding future use without costly
remediation. Possible interlinkages also exist between chemicals and other environmental concerns: the
release of unintentional POPs from open burning processes and endocrine disrupting substances and
reproductive toxins may have a particular impact on certain species and affects biodiversity.
International Response
Reducing or eliminating risks from chemicals -- from design and production to use and disposal—is vital for
sustainable development and this necessitates not only changes in production and consumption patterns, but
also involves actions to ensure safe international trade as well as control of manufacturing, use and
environmental release. To achieve this goal, national actions alone often do not suffice but strengthening of
the global capacity for protection of public health and the environment is required.
Aware of these concerns the international community developed number of instruments to assist countries in
safer use of chemicals. Almost 40 international chemical safety programmes and initiatives conducted by 15
intergovernmental organizations exist, among which 17 global agreements and 3 regional African agreements.
8 of these agreements have been directly sponsored by UNEP. They are:
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1. The Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
2. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their
Disposal and related protocols
3. The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous
Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade
4. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol
5. The Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
6. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
7. The Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Costal
Environment in the West and Central African Region
8. The Convention for the Protection Management and Development of the Marine and Costal
Environment in the Eastern African Region
The remaining challenge is how to work together to make these instruments a success.
One of the most comprehensive in terms of life cycle coverage is the Stockholm Convention, which entered
into force on 17 May of this year. It is a legally binding convention to reduce or eliminate environmental
releases of pesticides, industrial chemicals, and unintentionally produced substances that exhibit special
toxicity and are remanent in the environment. Unique in its perspective, scope, and breadth, it reveals the key
links among environment, health and development. Under the Stockholm Convention and with funding from
the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a programme has been set to enable countries to develop their
National Implementation Plans (NIPs) and meet their obligations under the Convention. The Convention also
has provisions for technical and financial assistance to help Parties take action on persistent organic pollutants.
Of equal importance are the Rotterdam and Basel Conventions, which work together with the Stockholm
Convention to form a comprehensive basis for global chemical safety.
UNEP also has a number of other programmes to help promote chemical safety globally. These programmes
include a diverse range, including accident prevention, mercury risk reduction, waste minimization and
management, promoting cleaner production, helping shifts to safer and cleaner alternatives to dangerous
pesticides, eliminating lead in gasoline and preventing illegal trafficking. In addition, the member
organizations of the IOMC (FAO, WHO, ILO, UNIDO, UNEP, UNITAR and OECD), as well as the IMO, the
World Bank and UNDP have significant chemical safety programmes, and the IFCS serves as a forum for
overall discussions on the chemicals agenda. These initiatives all come together with the evolution of the
“strategic approach to international chemicals management” (SAICM) whose development was endorsed by
the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, and which will be our common
roadmap for meeting the WSSD goal “…of achieving, by 2020, that chemicals are used and produced in ways
that lead to the minimization of significant adverse effects on human health and the environment.”
Chemical issues in African Countries
Over the next two decades production of chemicals is expected to increasingly move to developing countries.
At the same time many of these countries lack adequate systems to control and safely use these chemicals, and
in some cases chemicals are not not seen as a major environmental issue because of the delayed nature of the
risks/effects and the invisibility of the cause. In many countries that have adopted laws and regulations to
control chemicals, the means to enforce those laws, and monitoring systems for early detection of adverse
health effects, are not in place. In the fifth and most recent edition of UNEP’s master list of actions on the
reduction and or elimination of the releases of persistent organic pollutants (June 2003) only 11 African
countries reported on ongoing or planned projects on the assessment and monitoring of POPs chemicals. If not
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a direct indication of the level of awareness and action regarding chemicals issues, this shows at the least a
limitation of capacity to respond to international commitment and emerging chemicals issues.
Particular conditions in Africa may add special reasons for concern in relations to chemicals safety, in
particular pesticides. The climatic conditions that are not always compatible with the protective measures in
place in developed countries and there may be a low level of literacy of users, which is not conducive to the
safe handling of chemicals. Latest World Health Organisation (WHO) figures show that about 25 million
people suffer symptomatic pesticide poisoning in the developing world each year, with more than 220,000
deaths. A study conducted by the Medical Research Institute in one African country reported 1,000 deaths and
35,000 cases of occupational poisoning on farms during the past year. ''These cases are just a small tip of what
happens on those farms''. This concern has led directly to the inclusion of severely hazardous pesticide
formulations that present a hazard under conditions of use in developing countries or countries with
economies in transition within the Rotterdam Convention.
Chemicals can have impacts on trade of agricultural commodities (when unacceptable levels of residues are
found), on ground water through contamination of aquifers and deterioration of living environmental quality
through dumping of obsolete stocks and poor urban waste collection and disposal. They may hence have an
even higher though ill-perceived effects on those African economies that depend heavily on natural resources.
Therefore, there is need to strengthen chemical control and management by African countries in order to avoid
health, environmental and economic disruptions due to their inadequate use. African countries need to build
their capacities in monitoring and control of chemicals, phasing out activities, equipment and processes that
may be dangerous or obsolete, increasing awareness on chemicals issues and building capacity to manage
risks and shift to cleaner technologies and practices.
UNEP has put in place a large programme for training of national officials in chemical safety issues, as well as
promoting public awareness and institutional strengthening. UNEP has also helped countries in Africa
establish a networking system using Internet based tools (Chemical Information Exchange Network, CIEN) to
enable national officers to access to chemical management information needed for decision making, to
exchange experiences on their country programmes and to facilitate effective cooperation.
As of 5 May, 2004 34 African countries are Parties to the Basel Convention, 16 are Parties to the Stockholm
Convention and 18 are Parties to the Rotterdam Convention. Thirty-four of the African countries are engaged
in the development of Stockholm Convention National Implementation Plans (NIPs) and related activities for
the implementation of the Convention.
Possible recommendations for action
Representatives of African countries may wish to consider the following possible recommendations for action.
1. Setting as a common goal effective action to deal with all impacts from chemicals and according
priority to ratification and implementation of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions;
2. Encouraging cooperative and collaborative action and partnerships, among governmental institutions
and organizations, communities, the private sector and non-governmental organizations which have
relevant responsibilities and/or experience;
3. Calling upon the NEPAD and the regional groups such as the Arab Maghreb Union, COMESA,
ECCAS, ECOWAS and the SADC to take chemical safety as a priority issue;
4. Calling upon the United Nations Environment Programme and other partners to ensure that their
substantive programmes provide adequate support (through, inter alia, financial cooperation, capacitybuilding and institutional strengthening mechanisms) for strengthening of chemical management at
regional level in order to facilitate:
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development or enhancement of coherent national chemical control systems including
legislation, and institutional infrastructure;
consolidation of their national priorities and strategies such as those included in the
Stockholm Convention national implementation plans for coordinated implementation and
mutual support;
promoting regional networking for exchange of chemical management information and
expertise;
cooperation to build capacities and mobilize resources for the development and
implementation of programmes,
cooperation on a regional basis to coordinate efforts for maximum efficiency and to support
action at the national level; and
addressing the possible illegal traffic in chemical substances.
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