The eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP8) to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal convened from 27 November to 1 December 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya, and was attended by over 500 participants.

COP8 considered several reports on activities within the Convention’s mandate and adopted a declaration on e-waste and more than 30 decisions on, inter alia: the 2007-2008 programme of work; the implementation of the Strategic Plan, including consideration of the work and operations of the Basel Convention Regional and Coordinating Centres, as well as the Basel Convention Partnership Programme; synergies and cooperation in the environmental field; e-waste and end-of-life equipment; ship dismantling; legal matters; technical matters; financial issues and the budget; amendments to the general technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management (ESM) of persistent organic pollutants wastes; the guidelines for ESM of wastes; technical guidelines for ESM of a variety of chemicals; the 2007-2008 work programme of the Open-Ended Working Group; and the election of new members of the Compliance Committee and its work programme. COP8 opened against the backdrop of the toxic waste dumping incident in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. This brought into focus the need for delegates to address not only to address the meeting’s theme, “Creating innovative solutions through the Basel Convention for the environmentally sound management of electronic wastes,” but also to tackle the core issues of the Convention, including the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, strengthening the Convention’s implementation, the budget, and resource management and sustainable financing.
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IISD RS coverage of the meeting