Thursday, June 11
10:00 a.m.
Chemicals are all around us, every day of our life. They keep our homes clean, help us to grow more food, produce better goods and improve our health care. Chemicals boost the global economy, and today we use and produce them more than ever before.
The Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) is the international policy framework for global action, protecting human health and the environment from harmful effects of chemicals across the lifecycle by 2020. It is a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder voluntary platform building capacity of developing countries for the sound management of chemicals, addressing emerging issues, and complementing the global legally binding frameworks on chemicals.
The future of sustainable development—with an emphasis on equity, healthy livelihoods, and well-functioning ecosystems and natural resources—is inseparable from the sound management of chemicals and waste. The current SAICM overall objective runs until 2020, presenting an opportunity to renew and rethink the global approach for the sound management of chemicals and waste in the near term. We welcome the engagement of new stakeholders in moving forward, in particular the scientific community.
BRENDA KOEKKOEK works with the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) Secretariat, administered at the United Nations Environment Programme. Brenda has more than 16 years of environmental policy-related experience, particularly in relation to pollution. She is a Canadian national, previously working with Environment and Climate Change Canada. Much of her work has focused on building strategic partnerships as well as overseeing stakeholder consultation processes.
