The Secretariat of the Basel Convention, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the City of Curitiba, CIFAL Curitiba and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) co-organized the Regional Forum on “Public-Private Partnerships for management of hazardous waste in Latin American cities” which took place in Curitiba, Brazil, from the 28th to 30th March, 2007.
Representatives from 10 Latin American Ministries of Environment and local authorities from more than 20 Latin American cities attended this workshop. The following countries were represented at the Forum: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Representatives from the Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for Latin America and Caribbean Region in Uruguay and the Basel Convention Regional Centre for the South American Region in Argentina participated in this workshop as well.
The main topic of this workshop was the management of hazardous waste. The seminar focused on used oils management. The case of Guayaquil, Ecuador, was analyzed during the seminar as an example of successful oils management in Latin America. Because of the partnership between the Guayaquil local authorities and private enterprises, waste management capacities have been notably strengthened in the city. Other examples of public-private partnership such as the electronic waste management of cities of Argentinian cities as well as hospital waste management in Curitiba have been presented.
The Forum allowed to enhance cooperation and exchange of experience between national and municipal authorities for the management of hazardous wastes, both from a legal and practical perspective. Main training needs that were identified included: 1) inter-institutional and intergovernmental relationships 2) integrated waste management 3) capacity-building at municipal level, and 4) participatory processes for the implementation of public policies at the local level, both with communities and enterprise.
The Forum was organized back to back with the meeting on urban biodiversity promoted by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Municipality of Curitiba that gathered large municipalities around the world. A memorandum of understanding was signed between UNITAR and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to develop further cooperation.
For more information, please contact Ms. Charlotte Díez.
RSS 2.0