Every year, roughly 500 million tonnes of chemicals are produced worldwide. According to an estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO), agricultural chemicals alone cause 220,000 deaths each year. And the International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that 70 percent of all accidents involving toxic chemicals occur in developing countries, even though these countries use only 20 percent of the chemicals produced worldwide. These statistics make clear that chemicals must be used more safely and responsibly – particularly in developing countries.

Two international conventions have had a significant impact on chemical safety:

The Rotterdam Convention governs the traffic of toxic chemicals worldwide and enables countries to ban their import.

The Stockholm Convention requires member states to ban the production and use of particularly hazardous persistent substances or to reduce their release into the environment.

GTZ’s Convention Project Chemical Safety supports partner countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America in implementing measures that comply with these conventions and introducing international standards for chemical safety. For example, the project has helped small and medium-sized enterprises in Indonesia and South Africa take steps to ensure the careful management of chemicals and save money in the process.