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Countries from across the pan-European region have reaffirmed the need for multilateral cooperation to address major and emerging industrial safety challenges at  the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UNECE Industrial Accidents Convention (CoP-13), held in Geneva on 27
In response to rising risks of accidents as the scale and scope of industrial activities increases to meet the demands of the energy transition, governments from across the pan-European region have decided to strengthen cooperation to ensure safety by expanding work under the UNECE Convention on
For International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (13 October), UNECE warns that climate change and the energy transition are increasing the likelihood of catastrophic accidents linked to industrial and technological facilities such as chemical plants, battery factories, mining sites and energy
Today, a new project to be implemented by UNECE with the support of Switzerland was launched in Tashkent, underscoring Uzbekistan's commitment to improving water and health governance and safe management of industrial and tailing facilities.   Uzbekistan, the most populous Central Asian
Faced with increasing impacts of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, which together constitute the “triple planetary crisis”, no country can act alone. Like nature itself, these challenges know no borders, which makes international cooperation a crucial part of action to address them.
Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) will be at the forefront of discussions at the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) on how to tackle the triple planetary crisis.  Executive Secretary Tatiana Molcean will lead a UNECE delegation to UNEA-6, the world’s
Critical Raw Materials (CRM) like lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, graphite and rare earth elements are crucial for renewable energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines and for battery production, driving the global shift to electrification. Yet with surging demand,
Global biodiversity is now declining faster than at any time in human history. As leaders gather for the 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-15, 7-19 December), UNECE calls for the region to urgently step up with the leadership needed to stop biodiversity loss
“Within three decades, work under the Industrial Accidents Convention has been transformative for the UNECE region, enhancing the protection for humans and the environment and making it an example for transboundary cooperation on accident prevention and preparedness, which can serve as inspiration
Ukraine will become a Party to the UNECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, following the deposit of its instrument of accession with the UN Secretary-General in New York on 6 July 2022. The Convention will enter into force for Ukraine on 4 October
UNECE notes with concern the attacks on industrial facilities in Ukraine since the beginning of the war and calls for a prompt end of the hostilities and the prevention of technological disasters, which could affect the population and environment of Ukraine and neighbouring countries. Since the
“The explosion came at a very high cost with over 218 deaths, 6,000 injured, and at least 15 billion USD in destruction to infrastructure. In around 15 minutes Beirut lost over 15 years of development gains. We must learn lessons from this catastrophic disaster, not just for Lebanon but for the
Today, the Inaugural Meeting of the Working Group on Tailings Safety and the Prevention of Accidental Water Pollution (IIWG) took place in Tajikistan, bringing together representatives of different national authorities, operators, international institutions and interested specialists to strengthen
Increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events due to climate change that can lead to industrial accidents and unchecked urban and regional development could together be a recipe for disaster, warn the UN and the governments of 
Today, Serbia became the first country in the pan-European region to launch a National Policy Dialogue (NPD) on Industrial Safety, supported by UNECE in the framework of the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (Industrial Accidents Convention). Since its accession to the
On 27 July 2021 around 9:40 am, a major explosion at the 480 hectare Chempark in Leverkusen, Germany, shocked the local population within a radius of 40km who heard and felt the detonation – and even beyond that, as the toxic plume was still visible in Dortmund, nearly 80 km away. The explosion
Industrial accidents at tailings management facilities (TMFs) - which handle and store the fine-grained waste materials remaining after extracting minerals and metals from the earth, often containing toxic and hazardous substances - have resulted in devastating effects
The new repository will help address disaster risks in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development It consolidates good practices and lessons learned over the past decade in Europe and beyond in the fields of land-use planning and industrial safety Disasters caused by natural hazards
The eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to UNECE’s Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (Industrial Accidents Convention), drawing to a close today, took place from 7-9 December 2020 – for the first time, in a hybrid form, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For many countries, mining is an important industry in terms of economic and social development. Mining activities however generate hazardous waste that is commonly stored in ponds or tailings, often referred to as tailings management facilities (TMFs). Failures at TMFs have regularly led to