Triple science-policy panels for a triple planetary crisis

My thanks to the United Kingdom, the Geneva Environment Network and the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm, or BRS, Conventions for organizing this event.

For decades, the BRS Conventions have protected human health and the environment from the risk of exposure to hazardous chemicals and wastes, including persistent organic pollutants.

Parties to these conventions have adopted many decisions to enhance implementation and impact, including through strengthened synergies among the conventions. My thanks for this important work.

Science, of course, plays a crucial underpinning role for all conventions, which are not set up to principally review emerging issues or conduct integrated assessments that deliver practical solutions for countries.

The chemicals and waste conventions do, of course, have scientific support from various bodies. But nations have long acknowledged an obvious and yawning gap.

Conventions dealing with the climate crisis have the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to guide them. Conventions dealing with the nature, biodiversity and land loss crisis have the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The pollution and waste crisis has lacked such a body for too long.

This is why nations, at the UN Environment Assembly in March 2022, adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and pollution prevention. The aim is to complete the trio of panels and cover the whole triple planetary crisis.

We need this panel because the crisis of pollution, waste and chemical exposure is intensifying. Pollution degrades nature, causes around nine million premature deaths each year, and costs the economy trillions of dollars in losses. And the chemicals industry is growing, which increases the risk of harmful exposure, if the sound management of chemicals and waste and the prevention of pollution is not prioritized.

So, it is with much anticipation that we look forward to the resumed third session of the ad hoc open-ended working group, which will be decisive in finalizing the foundations of the panel.

Done right, this panel will support countries make more informed, coordinated and science-based decisions to address the triple planetary crisis. But let me be clear: the panel will not set targets or place demands on countries. The panel will focus on providing the science nations need to define their own path.

The panel must be credible, inclusive and capable of adapting to an evolving landscape.

Shine a light on where the global community may need to pay attention and make new and existing solutions more visible.

Create policy-relevant science by considering national contexts – including how chemicals are used and the extent to which viable alternatives exist.

Draw on existing knowledge, science-policy interfaces and multilateral processes, broaden the evidence base and listen to perspectives from all knowledge holders and actors.

Help to strengthen regulatory frameworks, promote sustainable practices across sectors, and support international cooperation to tackle social, economic and pollution and waste management challenges in tandem.

Above all, the panel must show how economies and businesses can flourish and retain the benefits of chemicals without the unwelcome side-effects of diminished human and planetary health.

Significant progress has been made towards creating an intergovernmental panel that has the potential to hit all these important points. My thanks to all delegates who have actively contributed to this important process. But much work remains to ensure the panel is fit-for-purpose and future-ready.

Delegates must come prepared to Punta del Este, Uruguay, in June, with a shared commitment to finalize proposals for forwarding to the Intergovernmental Meeting that will consider the establishment of the panel. Flexibility, constructive engagement, and a willingness to find common ground will be vital for success.

With this panel to guide us in a complex and ever-changing landscape, we can make faster progress on all Multilateral Environment Agreements and frameworks that affect, and are affected by, pollution, waste and chemicals. The BRS Conventions. The Global Framework on Chemicals. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The Minamata Convention. The instrument on plastic pollution under negotiation. And more.

So, let us strive to make this panel a strong, authoritative voice to support and guide action on protecting human health. On protecting the environment. On reducing economic costs. On promoting pollution prevention and safe circularity. On achieving the sustainable development goals. And on making life better for everyone, everywhere.