The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), organized a regional workshop from December 16 to 18, 2024, in Abidjan-Côte d’Ivoire, to assess the implementation of Community directives and standards adopted by ECOWAS within the implementation of the strategies and integrated action plan for the management of Chemicals and Hazardous Waste in the region.
The regional workshop helped to have the status of implementation of the various directives and standards relating to the management of Chemicals by ECOWAS member states; identify and analyse the gaps and constraints, and agree on practical arrangements to facilitate their effective application.
The Ag. Director of Environment & Natural Resources, Yao Bernard Koffi, representing the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Massandjé Toure-Litse, noted that Chemicals are indispensable for producing consumer goods.
However, their poor management hurts human, animal, and environmental health.
He recalled the relevance of the adopted community directives and standard for sound management of Chemicals of concern and further emphasized the importance of their effective implementation.
Mr. ATANI, Head of the Regional Office for West Africa, reiterated UNEP’s commitment to working closely with the ECOWAS Commission and its Member States and urged concrete implementation of all adopted directives, standards, and guidelines.
The Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition of Côte d’Ivoire, who was represented by Prof. Kouadio Georges, Advisor of the Minister, called for collaborative efforts to enhance capacity and prevent future incidents associated with the mismanagement of Chemicals.
The workshop was attended by representatives from Refineries, Standards organizations, Ministries of environments, and Technical partners-UNEP; African Refiners& Distributors Association (ARDA), and the Lead Exposure Elimination Project (LEEP).
