Meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, Rotterdam Convention, Stockholm Convention will be held from 29 April to10 May 2019, in Geneva. With its activities in relevant fields in the past, CBCGDF has successfully been admitted as an observer to the meetings.
Basel Convention
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, Basel Convention, was adopted on 22 March 1989 by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Basel, Switzerland. It entered into force in May 1992.Amendments to the Basel convention were adopted on 22 September 1995 in Geneva. More than 100 countries have signed the convention, and China signed the convention on 22 March, 1990.
Rotterdam Convention
The text of the Rotterdam Convention was adopted on 10 September 1998 by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Convention entered into force on 24 February 2004.The objectives of the Convention are to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals in order to protect human health and the environment from potential harm; to contribute to the environmentally sound use of those hazardous chemicals, by facilitating information exchange about their characteristics, by providing for a national decision-making process on their import and export and by disseminating these decisions to Parties.
Stockholm Convention
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on 22 May 2001 in Stockholm, Sweden. The Convention entered into force on 17 May 2004. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health or on the environment.
The related activities of CBCGDF are summarized as follows:
On 29 January, CBCGDF organized a panel discussion about Regulation on the Assessment and Evaluation of Chemicals' Risks on the Environment (Draft for Consultation) issued by China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment. This is reported by China Daily. Here is the link.
https://enapp.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201901/29/AP5c50463ea310d331ec9287e6.html
On January 25, CBCGDF formally submitted to the supreme people's court an application for retrial of Changzhou toxic land case. Based on the facts and repeated research, according to the current laws and regulations in our country, CBCGDF thinks the main content of Changzhou verdict is in violation of the provisions of laws, especially in contravention of the provision of the "damage liability" principle under environmental law. It is in accordance with the principle on the surface, but negation in essence without realizing the purpose of public interest litigation. In order to protect public interests, a retrial is applied in accordance with the provisions of article 200 in the civil procedure law. We hope to correct the errors in the judgment of the second instance and truly safeguard public interests.
CBCGDF fileded a public interest Litigation in Beijing against the "toxic running track". CBCGDF also sent a letter to many kindergartens that have found similar problems across the country and asked them to dismantle the "toxic running track" according to law. Due to the joint efforts of the judge, the parties involved and CBCGDF, the environmental public interest Litigation for "toxic running track" was successful. The parties involved not only removed the "toxic running track" in the kindergartens in question, but also took the initiative to remove all the problematic "toxic running tracks" in their affiliated kindergartens. The social effect of the case is more significant. Numerous kindergartens all over the country initiated or were ordered to dismantle the "toxic running track". Social problems caused by "toxic running track" was seldom reported in the summer vacation of 2017 and 2018. The state also officially launched the national standard for plastic running track in kindergartens and primary and secondary schools. The problem of “toxic running track” around the country has been solved.
In April 2018, CBCGDF received an invitation from the UN Environment Programme to join the global campaign of "Reduce Plastics, Pick-up Plastics ". The road of "Reduce Plastics, Pick-up Plastics ": CBCGDF wrote to the Minister of Public Security to propose to cancel China's motor vehicle driver's license folder and plastic seal. Starting from “Beat Plastic Pollution”, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary General of CBCGDF participated in the Beijing Waste Classification Civil Forum, commented on the classification of community waste. CBCGDF, the 2018 Qinghai Lake, China EV Rally Organizing Committee, the National College Student Environmental Protection Culture Festival, UNEP and IUCN Beijing Representative Office, jointly carried out the national public interest photography event, focusing on ecological protection, new energy, and plastic pollution.CBCGDF established the "Colorful Earth Task Force" with the participation of special personnel in charge. CBCGDF established the Children's Task Force on Earth Day in 2018.CBCGDF wrote to related companies requesting the suspension of the use of plastic flower products in public places. CBCGDF started the initiative to not to use plastic book covers at the beginning of the new semester.
Chinese gardens is one of the sectors where pesticides are used on a large scale. CBCGDF advocates to minimize the use of fertilizers and pesticides, let the weed grow, and protect wilderness areas in the process of urbanization and landscape greening.
In 2011, CNOOC's oil spilled in Bohai sea, the ecological impact is still not eliminated. CBCGDF sued the ConocoPhillips and CNOOC on behalf of the public and encountered a lot of difficulties. The legal system refused to field a litigation on this aspect before. This is the first public interest litigation concerning this serious accident and the first public interest litigation concerning marine environment initiated by a social organization and accepted in China.
CBCGDF is highly concerned about the leakage of underground storage tanks which causes groundwater and soil pollution.
As a leading environmental NGO in promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, CBCGDF is well aware that, for the public, environmental protection means starting from trivial matters and has been sparing no effort to carry out various activities in environmental protection and green development.
Original Chinese article:
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4937/7621.html
By / Cynthia