Dear friends and colleagues,
You are all warmly invited to join our Civil Society Conference in preparation of the World Chemicals Conference on 22 September in Bonn.
This half day conference offers civil society and their friends an additional opportunity to exchange ideas and shape our positions before the World Chemicals Conference. Together we create a crucial momentum for further collaboration. We want to discuss, prepare and advance our positions. Join in, make this event an additional booster for the then upcoming week of negotiation and support our collective fight for an ambitious SAICM-Beyond-2020-Framework.
From 25.-29. September, the World Chemicals Conference (ICCM5) will take place in Bonn. The aim is to agree on a new framework for the sound management of chemicals and waste beyond 2020. This is urgently needed. The third planetary crisis – the pollution of the planet with chemicals and plastics – is getting worse. We need ambitious solutions, and we need them now. We need to protect people and the planet from hazardous chemicals and reduce the high volume of chemical production. The conference in Bonn is an important step, but we can not rest after this week. The work and the sound management must be done in the coming years. The international civil society movement has been and continues to be an essential actor in this field. Actors from health, environment and labor sectors. This is what we want to foster with this event. And we extend a special welcome to all participants from international civil society organisations, international trade unions, academia and youth movement, who will be attending ICCM5. And we encourage all people who are not yet involved in international chemicals a waste management to bring in their fresh perspectives and views.
The conference will be a face-to-face meeting and held in English only. The entry is free. A registration is necessary (see below).
Program
14:00 Registration and arrival
15:00 Welcome and Opening
15:10 Panel Discussion: What needs to be done to achieve a sound management of chemicals and waste?
Moderator: Sascha Gabizon, Women Engage for a Common Future
Speakers:
- Bettina Hoffmann, Parlamentary State Secretary, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.
- Mohammed Khashashneh, Secretary General, Ministry of Environment/ Jordan (tba)
- Ana Paula Souza, Human Rights Officer, Executive Office United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Rory O´Neill, Occupational health and labor standards adviser, International Trade Union Confederation
16:30 Workshop-Session
- Workshop: Identify, Address, Solve – sustainable solutions to pressing chemicals and waste threats
In this workshop, we will discuss rising global chemicals and waste issues and develop strategies and identify what needs should urgently be addressed.
- Workshop: Raise political commitment – the Bonn high-level Declaration on track
In this Workshop we work on the requirements and needs of the new HLD.
- Workshop: strengthening multi-sectoral engagement – moving towards a strong collaboration on chemicals and waste management
With that Workshop we want to share experiences and discuss best practices on how to collaborate with new partners.
18:00 Fishbowl discussion: Joint discussion about our future work on global Chemicals and Waste Management
Moderator: Alexandra Caterbow, HEJ Support
19:00 Closing and joint dinner
Here you can find the detailed program
About the venue:
The conference will take place in the BMUV premises in Bonn. The venue is a half-hour train ride from the regional meetings and just a 20 minutes walk away from the WCCB.
The address is: Robert-Schumann-Platz 3 in 53175 Bonn
We know, that many will be attending at the Regional Meetings, which will take place on Thursday and Friday in Bonn Siegburg. Here is a guide for your journey from the Regionals to the Civil Society Conference.
This conference is organized by BUND – Friends of the Earth Germany, European Network for Environmental Medicine, German NGO Forum on Environment and Development, Health and Environment Justice Support, Pesticide Action Network Germany and Women Engage for a Common Future.
Registration is now closed.