SCP/RAC leading an online side event on POPs prevention at the BRS COP 2021 – Don’t miss out, registration is open!

We’re very excited to announce the SIDE EVENT entitled "EXPLORING STRATEGIES TO BOOST NEW POPS PREVENTION: THE CASE OF PFAs"  which is taking place next Wednesday 28^th of July at 16.00 (GMT/UTC+2). 

Every two years the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions gather to discuss the latest developments and reach important agreements to move forward during the Conference of the Parties. The first segment of the COP will be taking place online, during this week starting July 26^th until the 30^th.  The theme of the meetings will be "Global Agreements for a Healthy Planet: Sound management of chemicals and waste". On the sidelines of the COP, a number of online side events are organised and opened to Parties and observers to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, and other stakeholders interested in the work of the BRS conventions. Find out more here: http://www.brsmeas.org/2021COPs/Sideevents/tabid/8867/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

The mandate of the SCP/RAC, as a designated a Stockholm Convention Regional Centre is to help signatories which are developing and transition economy countries to fulfil their obligations under the Convention, through capacity building and technology transfer. Recently the centre  has started working with PFAS in the firefighting sector in three Mediterranean countries - Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon - under the MedProgramme, a GEF funded project. We’ll be tackling this issue from a preventive approach, by enabling the mechanisms to substitute PFAS with POPs-free safe alternatives and setting the roadmap for a legislation that will ensure this phase out is sustainable throughout the years.

It's in this context that we have asked top level experts to join us at the Side Event this year to learn about the existing and emerging strategies to tackle the new POPs listed under the Stockholm Convention such as PFAS. PFAS is a chemical which can be found in many every day items such as clothing, firefighting foams, electronics and other and has been linked to serious detrimental health effects, Human and environmental exposure to hazardous chemicals like PFAS represents a cost in terms of impacts on human health and reduced environmental quality.

Expert Gretta Goldenman from the Green Science Policy Institute will focus on case studies of PFAS contamination in the US and Jewel tBatchasingh (Director of the BCRC Cairbbean) will give us insights into their experience on PFAS remediation.

Following this Senior Business Advisor, Daryl Ditz will delve into different tools developed by an independent non-profit organisation, ChemSec, to better understand what can be done to involve the world’s largest chemical companies on their efforts to reduce their chemical footprints. Finally, we will hear from the experts at the consulting agency WOOD that will give us some insights into the tool recently developed for the financial institution EBRD to account for the quantities of PFAS that will be phased out of the market under the MedProgramme. 

Sounds interesting? Register for free and join us by following this link:  https://unep-brs.webex.com/unep-brs/j.php?RGID=r2232c993ee870f575ebc89c885870d15

If you can’t join us on the day however, our side event will be recorded and made available for you to see it at a later stage.

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