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On 22 February 2010, more than one hundred forty governments will meet in Bali to strengthen ties between the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, the world's three leading treaties promoting the sound management of hazardous chemicals and wastes. 

In an effort to further synergies between the three treaties and better target resources for chemicals and waste management on regional and national level, the parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions will convene their conferences of the parties simultaneously to consider restructuring the way they do business.

Holding simultaneous meetings of individual conferences of the parties represents a historic departure from past practice in the sphere of international environmental governance.
"The synergies proposals build on a high level of cooperation between the three conventions and allow countries to focus their resources on actions needed to ensure the health of people and the planet," said Donald Cooper, Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention and Co-Executive Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

"The solutions are at hand. We need to reach out to a public affected by the impact of chemicals on human health and the environment and deliver to local, national and regional actors that can make a difference on the ground," said Peter Kenmore, Co-Executive Secretary of the Rotterdam Convention for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The simultaneous extraordinary meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions will be joined by international organizations, major stakeholder groups and individual experts from around the globe.

"These extraordinary meetings give everyone a chance to step back and look at how we can deliver on the promise of the conventions more effectively, by working "in sync" for a coherent and comprehensive 'life-cycle' approach to chemicals and wastes. The work of our conventions on sound management of chemicals and wastes continues uninterrupted year-round," said Katharina Kummer Peiry, Executive Secretary of the Basel Convention.