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The Special Award Highly Hazardous Pesticides is one of the most ambitious and impactful solutions that minimizes the adverse effects of pesticides, which cause disproportionate harm to the environment and human health. Pesticides can cause severe environmental hazards, high acute, chronic toxicity and are also a very common suicide agent. Particularly, in Sri Lanka, two thirds of suicides were due to self-poisoning with pesticides. The Special Award Highly Hazardous Pesticides was awarded to Sri Lanka’s Control of Pesticides Act No

Lead is a cumulative toxic element particularly harmful to young children and pregnant women. Lead can be present at high levels in paint and is a major health concern specially in low and middle income countries. Philippines legislation towards lead-safe paint has provided safer alternatives to protect human health and the environment, actively involving all stakeholders. The Special Award Lead in Paint was awarded to Philippines’ Chemical Control Order for Lead and Lead Compounds (CCO, 2013-24).The World Future Council focuses

Despite the fact that pharmaceuticals are indispensable for human and animal health, they may cause undesired adverse effects. Specifically, environmentally persistent pharmaceutical pollutants (EPPPs) are slowly degradable or nondegradable, presenting a special risk when they enter, persist or disseminate in the environment. Colombia’s Resolution 371, addressing EPPPs, was awarded for regulating waste management from hazardous products.The World Future Council focuses on identifying, developing, highlighting and spreading effective, future-just solutions for current challenges humanity is facing and promote their implementation worldwide

This market and sector analysis report of the chemical supply chain of the construction sector in Sri Lanka was conducted according to the process outlined in UNEP’s eco-innovation (Eco-i) manual.The construction industry is one of the largest industries in Sri Lanka both in terms of contribution to GDP as well as the labour force involved. As a result, the construction material supply chain is also one of the largest sub sectors in the country. There is an emerging trend in

Both reports arose from the Danish project “NanoDEN”, commissioned by the Danish EPA.Environmental fate and behaviour of nanomaterials by Hartmann N, Skjolding L, Foss Hansen S, Gottschalk F, Baun A (2014)The report 1 provides an overview of the to date knowledge regarding processes relevant for environmental fate and behaviour of ENMs. Key environmental processes are identified, discussed and prioritized according to their relevance as inputs for fate modelling for ENMs. Furthermore, knowledge gaps are identified and prioritised with regard to

A GEF-funded (Global Environment Facility) project on “Global best practices on emerging chemical policy issues of concern under SAICM” was launched in 2019, targeting Sri Lanka amongst other countries. The activities under the project include a focus on tracking and controlling chemicals along the value chains of the building and construction sector. To that end, a team from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have been working with stakeholders in Sri Lanka on identifying chemicals of concern in the construction material

The development of plastic products does not systematically take sustainability, particularly from a chemicals perspective, into account. This report seeks to enable the creation of inherently sustainable plastic products by integrating sustainable chemistry thinking in the design process. By applying a chemicals lens during the plastic material selection process, designers and engineers can make informed decisions to incorporate sustainable plastic during the conceptualisation phase of their products. The report provides an integrated approach to sustainable plastic selection from a chemicals

Scientific knowledge to assess the exposure to nanomaterials continues to improve. The OECD compiled an inventory of available models and tools for assessing occupational, consumer and environmental exposure to Nanomaterials. 54 tools and models were initially compiled and following in-depth analyses, 10 occupational, 7 consumer and 6 environmental tools/models were recommended or evaluated as suitable for assessing exposure to nanomaterials. The detailed information on the analyses and evaluations are provided in the reports accessible from the Series on Nanomaterials website

Chemicals provide a variety of specific functions in electric and electronic products or in their manufacturing process. However, some of these chemicals are hazardous and can cause concern related to their potential for adverse impacts on human health and the environment. Such impacts can occur throughout the product’s life cycle, including raw material extraction, processing and manufacturing, but also during product use or at end-of-life. However, decisions influencing product ingredients are usually taken at upstream stages of the value chain

PFAS are non-aromatic, organic chemicals in which the hydrogen atoms in the carbon chain are fully replaced (“per”) or partly but almost entirely replaced (“poly”) by fluorine atoms. At least 4,700 substances belong to this group of substances. All these chemicals have in common that their environmental degradability is fairly slow and very limited and therefore remain resistant for years to decades.PFAS are “forever chemicals.” Even when being incinerated for disposal, very high temperatures are required for these compounds to