The United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) agreed to establish a science-policy panel to contribute to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution.
The panel aims to provide policymakers with robust, independent scientific information on chemicals, waste and pollution prevention and is expected to work strategically with the recently adopted Global Framework on Chemicals and Multilateral Environmental Agreements. It will sit alongside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to ensure that all pillars of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste have a dedicated global science-policy interface.
In this resolution, the Environment Assembly decided to convene an ad hoc open-ended working group (OEWG) to prepare proposals for the science-policy panel, including its scope, objective, functions and operating principles, institutional arrangements, rules of procedure, and relationships with key stakeholders.