Chemical Conventions

Chemical contamination of the environment shows no respect for territorial borders. For this reason, chemical conventions, or multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) provide effective international and regional frameworks to prevent and minimise the impacts of toxic chemicals and hazardous waste in the global commons.

Chemical conventions and MEAs address: international trade in toxic chemicals; the transport of hazardous waste; the reduction and eventual elimination of releases, use and production of persistent organic pollutants; the environmentally sound remediation of waste stockpiles; and, the identification of contaminated sites. Most importantly, they help us avoid problems in the future.

The NTN Chemical Conventions Handbook offers information on five chemical conventions and their common elements to support the environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals and hazardous waste.

All five chemical conventions actively promote information exchange and technical capacity building, as well as providing some financial assistance for developing countries or countries with economies in transition.

For each Convention there is a general description, an explanation of the obligations, and the tools for implementations. Each Convention has its own reference section. A general reference library provides access to resource documents to aid in the environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals and hazardous waste.

The Five Chemical Conventions:

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal (1989)

The Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (1998)

The Waigani Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movements and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific region (1995)

The Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa (1991)