The seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-17), the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (RC COP-12) and the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP-12) will be held back-to-back in Geneva from 28 April to 9 May 2025. The theme of the meetings and the high-level segment will be “Make visible the invisible: sound management of chemicals and wastes”.
Side event at BRS COPs – 7 May
In collaboration with FSWP, a side event entitled “Waste in the Spotlight: A Call for Sound Management & Global Action” is scheduled for May 7.
While some waste-related issues, such as plastic pollution, are highly visible, others remain invisible/hidden yet are equally harmful – such as air, soil, and water contamination caused by poor waste management. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, it is imperative to transition to a society that produces less waste, that safely recovers materials and energy while protecting health and the environment, and that has environmentally sound options for final disposal for the waste that cannot be avoided or recovered. The Basel Convention’s objectives directly align with these concerns by promoting Environmentally Sound Management of Waste and addressing the transboundary movement of hazardous waste.
The waste and resources community are inherently multi-stakeholder encompassing municipalities and local authorities managing waste services, national governments shaping regulations, private companies providing equipment and services, UN- agencies setting guidelines and fostering global cooperation, NGOs building capacity and raising awareness, international finance providing capital investments. In addition, where formal waste systems are weak or absent, the informal sector plays a key role in re-using and recycling.
These stakeholders must unite under a shared vision to drive transformative change in waste and resource management. Fragmented individual efforts are no longer enough. It is imperative to forge a powerful, collective movement that elevates this issue to the highest political levels, demands urgent action and shapes ambitious international agreements. Only by standing together can we make waste management a global priority and secure a sustainable future for all.
This side event marks the beginning of a series dedicated to forging this unified approach and advancing waste and resource management as a global priority.
