BNA Daily Environment Report (by Pat Phibbs)
No. 26, Wednesday, February 8, 2006 Page A-3

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--The agreement on a Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) is a reasonable step to begin helping developing countries improve their capacity to manage chemicals, the head of the United Nations Environment Program told reporters Feb. 7.

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Topfer was referring to an agreement reached Feb. 6 by more than 140 countries, along with intergovernmental organizations, trade associations, and environmental and health groups (25 DEN B-1, 02/7/06).

Under the SAICM, known as the Dubai Declaration, the parties to the agreement will use a variety of tools to better manage chemicals and their uses worldwide.

The voluntary agreement, which has been in the works for three years, was finalized during the International Conference on Chemicals Management held Feb. 4-6. The meeting was conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.

The ninth special session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, which runs Feb. 7-9 in Dubai, is expected to endorse the voluntary agreement. In opening remarks to the special session, Hamad A. Al Midfaa, minister of health and chairman of the United Arab Emirates' Federal Environmental Agency, described reasons a strategic approach to managing chemicals is important.

More and more chemical companies are moving their manufacturing facilities to developing countries that may not have the procedures, legislation, and other safeguards to manage chemicals, he said.

The strategic approach can help such countries gain knowledge and build the infrastructure needed to manage chemicals, Midfaa said.

Topfer said SAICM is a reasonable step toward helping developing countries secure needed experts, knowledge, and technologies.

$10 Million Pledged for Trust Fund

Participating countries already have pledged at least $10 million to support a "quick start" trust fund that will allow funds to promptly be funneled toward initiatives that would help developing countries gain the knowledge, skills, and technology they need to better manage chemicals, Topfer told reporters.

The final agreement also allows international financial institutions to fund SAICM-related projects once that program expires, he said.

The program, which would be administered by UNEP, would receive funds for five years from the date that UNEP's executive director establishes the trust. UNEP would disperse funds for a maximum of seven years from that date.

It is hoped that developing countries can get to the point where a state such as Nigeria would know where its chemicals are produced, where they are used, where there are environmental releases of chemicals, and where and how wastes are disposed, Topfer said.

Inclusive Negotiation Approach Endorsed

In contrast to many international agreements negotiated among governments, in the case of SAICM, trade associations, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations also sat at the negotiating table.

Asked if he would recommend that approach be used in the future, Topfer told BNA "absolutely."

All of those parties will have to work together to implement international agreements, Topfer said. Including them at the table while those agreements are negotiated helps secure their support for the final accord, he said.

Raymond Garrity Baker, senior director for global affairs with the American Chemistry Council, told BNA that although the final text for SAICM had not been published, the approach did not appear to pose trade barriers to chemical companies.

Increase in Consistency Expected

The Dubai Declaration should help chemical manufacturers by increasing the consistency of chemicals regulations that may be issued by countries, Baker said.

Although developing countries raised concerns during negotiations about whether SAICM would provide funds, they were able to endorse the strategy because the final text allows for financial assistance to be provided through various ways, Glenn Wiser, an attorney with the Center for International Environmental Law, told BNA. The center is among the 350 nongovernmental organizations that make up the International Persistent Organic Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN).

In a statement issued Feb. 7, the World Wildlife Fund described the strategic approach as a "small, but important step forward in providing an overarching framework for a global chemicals strategy."

"WWF believes that having some bread on the table is better than going away empty-handed," the statement continued.

However, "the final outcomes of the Dubai negotiations are extremely disappointing, with the results akin to achieving a half loaf of bread, not well baked," WWF said.

"The compromise text falls far short in addressing, in a meaningful way, issues such as precaution, prevention, substitutions, describing underlying principles, framing a broad scope, or ensuring that sufficient financial and technical implementation assistance for developing countries and countries with economies in transition," WWF said.

Concerns Voiced on U.S. Role

Throughout the three days of negotiations here that led to the agreement, environmental groups and officials from various governments voiced concerns about efforts by certain governments, in particular the United States, to change language that made up the proposed strategic approach.

These groups and country representatives told BNA a few governmental delegations were so focused on ensuring that SAICM would not inhibit trade that they failed to make the document as beneficial to developing countries as it could have been.

"It's a very sad day being an American engaged in this process," said Jack Weinberg with the Environmental Health Fund, which has attended regional meetings of developing countries discussing their hopes for SAICM.

The U.S. actions illustrated "a complete contempt for the needs, concerns, and realities of developing countries," he said.

The U.S. delegation was participating in the ninth special session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum and was unable to speak with BNA to discuss its views on such allegations or on the agreement.

But Topfer said it was natural that NGOs would fault the agreement. The role of NGOs, he said, is to push governments and industry to work even harder on behalf of the issues the advocacy groups represent.

The European Union issued a statement Feb. 7 welcoming the agreement as a milestone of global environmental action.

"There is a clear commitment to the precautionary principal," said Josef Pröll, the minister for agriculture, forestry and environment for Austria, which holds the rotating EU presidency. "We don't need to see a tragedy happen to put safety systems in place. In other words, the Dubai Declaration says that if you're not sure, don't do it."

The precautionary principal does not have a clear definition, but is interpreted to mean governments can take actions to prevent potential harm from chemicals even when scientific information is uncertain.