Brazil hosts event on chemicals

Starting tomorrow (7 February), representatives from over 100 countries will gather in Brasilia to discuss the challenges facing the proper management of chemicals and waste, focusing on aspects related to food security, sustainable production/consumption and efficiency in the use of these resources with a view to ensuring their sustainability. The event, which lasts until 14 February, will feature workshops, panels and side events.

All these issues will also be addressed during the first meeting of the Intersessional Process on Chemicals and Wastes, also part of the programme. The recommendations adopted at the meeting will be presented at the 5th International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5), scheduled for 2020. That conference (location to be determined) will define the strategic approach and management for these products in the coming decades.

National efforts

For Brazilian Environment Minister Sarney Filho, hosting the meeting "will be a major opportunity for Brazil to expand the reach of national efforts in the framework of the environmentally sound management of chemicals and their waste, as well as to prepare recommendations for the new international rules which will come into force beginning in 2020”.

“Chemical safety is an essential element of the sustainable development agenda, particularly for food safety, water quality, health, and sustainable production and consumption," said the minister.

International Treaty

Brazil is a signatory of the SAICM, a voluntary and multisectoral treaty that established flexible, comprehensive mechanisms for international cooperation towards the development of skills and approaches for the management of chemicals.

According to the director of the Environmental Quality Department at the Environment Ministry, Leticia Carvalho Reis, the treaty's commitment comprises all existing chemicals with agricultural and industrial uses. “This is unlike the limited list of chemicals included in other international conventions such as the Stockholm and Rotterdam ones, and also covers all aspects of the life cycle of the chemicals, from their generation to use and disposal," she explained.

The director pointed out that major advances have been achieved since the treaty came into force 11 years ago, including the coordination, facilitation and boosting of initiatives to improve the management of chemicals at all levels. “The challenge now is to define what we want for the future, i.e. if the treaty will remain voluntary and if its multisectoral nature will be maintained," she added.

Conventions

Today, Brazil is a signatory of the Basil Convention On The Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, also called the "Chemicals Conventions".

Despite the fact that these Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) have different approaches and areas of focus, all three deal with the environmentally sound management of chemicals and hazardous waste, seeking the protection of health and the environment from chemicals which, due to their physicochemical properties, cause harmful effects to human health and the environment.

The Brazilian government has also given priority to the implementation of international agreements on the environment, including efforts to ratify the Minamata Convention on Mercury through concrete actions to reduce the environmental and health risks arising from exposure to this dangerous heavy metal.

Brazilian market

Brazil has large volumes of production and import of chemicals, with the 6th largest industry of the sector in the world. It is estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 chemicals are in circulation in Brazil.

“Mindful of the need to control those [substances] that pose risk to the environment and human health, the Ministry of Environment has been working with partner institutions in the government, productive and civil society sectors to improve the country's legislation and management of chemicals and wastes" explained Leticia Carvalho.

One of the initiatives is the National Industrial Chemicals Register, an instrument currently under construction that will allow Brazil to better understand and assess the full spectrum of substances circulating in the country. After that review, substances considered to be "of concern" will be subject to measures to reduce or even eliminate risks, which will be enforceable for producers, importers and end users of these chemicals (thus reaching the entire production chain).