Burundi has been involved in the sustainable development process for over a decade, in solidarity with other countries in the world. In 1992, the country was represented at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (“Rio Summit”), at the end of which the Heads of State and Government of more than 150 member countries of the United Nations adopted “Agenda 21”, a global Plan of Action that defines the responsibilities of States in achieving sustainable development for the 21st century.

Within the framework of this sustainable development, all countries present at the Conference, including Burundi, agreed on the goal of achieving the sound management of chemicals by the year 2000. The priorities, strategies and mechanisms for implementing Chapter 19 of Agenda 21 on the environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals, including the prevention of illicit international traffic in dangerous toxic products, were identified in 1994 by the Stockholm International Conference on Chemical Safety. This Conference led, among other things, to the creation of the Intergovernmental Forum for Chemical Safety (FISC), a framework for international cooperation between governments on chemical safety issues.

Global legal instruments relating to specific aspects of chemicals management have been adopted since the end of the 1980s, including:

- the London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information on Chemicals in International Trade (UNEP);

- the International Code of Conduct for the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (FAO);

- the 1990 ILO Convention on the Safety of Chemicals at Work (No. 170);

- the 1993 ILO Convention concerning the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents (No. 174);

- the Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer;

- the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal;

- the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade;

- the Convention to Combat Desertification.

Burundi has formally adhered to some of these instruments, such as the International Code of Conduct for the Distribution and Use of Pesticides and the Montreal Protocol, and has initiated actions for their implementation (development and adoption of a National Code of Conduct for Pesticide Management; implementation of a National Refrigerant Management Plan). It also signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants on 2 April 2002, and ratified it by Law No. 1/06 of 3 February 2005. Burundi has been a Party to the Stockholm Convention since 2 August 2005.

Even for the other international instruments to which Burundi has not officially adhered, it should be noted that it implements most of their provisions. As a Member of the United Nations, Burundi also ensures compliance with the resolutions and decisions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the management of chemicals, such as Resolution 44/226 on “trafficking, disposal, control and transboundary movements of toxic and dangerous products and wastes”.

However, Burundi still has enormous needs to create and strengthen national programmes for the sound management of hazardous chemicals including, as stated in Agenda 21:

(i) adequate legislation;

(ii) the collection and dissemination of information;

(iii) the capacity for risk assessment and interpretation;

(iv) capacity for implementation and enforcement;

(v) the capacity for the rehabilitation of contaminated sites and the management of poisoned persons;

vi) effective formal and informal education programs and the capacity to respond to emergencies.

In 2006, Burundi adopted its initial PNM, which plan was based on the 12 initial POPs: Aldrin, Chlordane, DDT, Dieldrin, Dioxin, Endrine, Furan, Furan, Heptachlor, Heptachlor, Heptachlor, Hexachlorobenzene, Hexachlorobenzene, Mirex, PCB and Toxaphene. By revising and updating its PNM in 2017, Burundi took into account the new POPs: Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane and Beta hexachlorocyclohexane, Chlordecone, Endosulfan, Hexabromobiphenyl, Hexabromobiphenyl, Lindane, Biphenyl Ethyl, Lindane, Lindane, Pentachlorobenzene, Lindane, Pentachlorobenzene, Tetrabromodiphenyl Ether and Heptabromodiphenyl Ether, Hexabromodiphenyl Ether and Heptabromodiphenyl Ether ylether, and perfluorooctane sulfonates (salts of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride).

This National Plan for the Implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the revised and updated PNM) is an indispensable complement to the national system intended to provide appropriate solutions to these major concerns.