How Armed Conflicts Impact the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

Jul 18, 2017 | Doug Weir
View Original

Since 1989, the Basel Convention, and later the Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, have played an important role in international efforts to minimise the health and environmental threats from chemicals and hazardous wastes. However, their implementation relies heavily on the ability of states to ensure robust domestic environmental governance. Armed conflicts and insecurity commonly disrupt the capacity of states to adequately respond to the pollution threats that may arise from them, and to oversee or implement environmental regulations. This blog examines how conflicts interact with the conventions, and how they challenge their goals of protecting human and environmental health.

The need for global progress on the sound management of chemicals throughout their lifecycles has been repeatedly endorsed by states for more than three decades, with governments backing a target date of 2020 for the goal as far back as 1992. Since then, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions (BRS) have been complemented by the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the Mercury Convention, as well as regional agreements such as the Waigani and Bamako conventions.