Rotterdam Secretariat FAO Rome Office

FAO-hosted part of the Rotterdam Convention Secretariat contributes to the core Secretariat functions in cooperation with all BRS Secretariat branches in Geneva as they relate to implementation of the Rotterdam Convention.

This comprises among others the organization of the Conference of Parties, convening the meetings of the Chemical Review Committee and the Rotterdam Convention Compliance Committee, including all logistical and technical support services to ensure smooth running of these meetings, delivery of technical assistance in UN languages, implementation of the Prior Informed Consent procedure, facilitation of information exchange, financial and outreach issues.

Given the specific expertise of FAO, the Rome office takes the lead on all technical matters related to pesticides and severely hazardous pesticide formulations.

The technical assistance is provided in close cooperation with Pesticide Management Team in FAO, in particular with regard to building capacity in member countries for the lifecycle management of pesticides in the context of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management. The Rome office links the implementation of FAO’s highly hazardous pesticide strategy and application of less hazardous alternatives to these pesticides closely with the support to Parties in notifying any final regulatory actions taken.

Work on pesticides is further leveraged through cooperation with a network of technical staff in five Regional Offices and nine Sub-regional Offices. This technical assistance is provided in synergy with the relevant provisions of the Basel and Stockholm Conventions.