Best available, environmentally effective and economically appropriate techniques and practices. (Source: InforMEA)
Measures, methods or activities that perform best or achieve the highest impact according to predefined criteria assessed through a validation process. Best practices are measures, methods or activities that are considered successful in terms of achieving desired outcomes (good performance) and contributing to expected impacts. (Source: draft based on UNCCD)
See all documents containing the keywords "best practice"
Measures to Reduce or Eliminate Releases from Intentional Production and Use
6. 6. Any Party that has a specific exemption in accordance with Annex A or a specific exemption or an acceptable purpose in accordance with Annex B shall take appropriate measures to ensure that any production or use under such exemption or purpose is carried out in a manner that prevents or minimizes human exposure and release into the environment. For exempted uses or acceptable purposes that involve intentional release into the environment under conditions of normal use, such release shall be to the minimum extent necessary, taking into account any applicable standards and guidelines.
Measures to Reduce or Eliminate Releases from Unintentional Production
(b) (b) Promote the application of available, feasible and practical measures that can expeditiously achieve a realistic and meaningful level of release reduction or source elimination;
(d) (d) Promote and, in accordance with the implementation schedule of its action plan, require the use of best available techniques for new sources within source categories which a Party has identified as warranting such action in its action plan, with a particular initial focus on source categories identified in Part II of Annex C. In any case, the requirement to use best available techniques for new sources in the categories listed in Part II of that Annex shall be phased in as soon as practicable but no later than four years after the entry into force of the Convention for that Party. For the identified categories, Parties shall promote the use of best environmental practices. When applying best available techniques and best environmental practices, Parties should take into consideration the general guidance on prevention and release reduction measures in that Annex and guidelines on best available techniques and best environmental practices to be adopted by decision of the Conference of the Parties;
(e) (e) Promote, in accordance with its action plan, the use of best available techniques and best environmental practices:
When applying best available techniques and best environmental practices, Parties should take into consideration the general guidance on prevention and release reduction measures in Annex C and guidelines on best available techniques and best environmental practices to be adopted by decision of the Conference of the Parties;
(f) (f) For the purposes of this paragraph and Annex C:
(i) (i) “Best available techniques” means the most effective and advanced stage in the development of activities and their methods of operation which indicate the practical suitability of particular techniques for providing in principle the basis for release limitations designed to prevent and, where that is not practicable, generally to reduce releases of chemicals listed in Part I of Annex C and their impact on the environment as a whole. In this regard:
(ii) (ii) “Techniques” includes both the technology used and the way in which the installation is designed, built, maintained, operated and decommissioned;
(iii) (iii) “Available” techniques means those techniques that are accessible to the operator and that are developed on a scale that allows implementation in the relevant industrial sector, under economically and technically viable conditions, taking into consideration the costs and advantages; and
(iv) (iv) “Best” means most effective in achieving a high general level of protection of the environment as a whole;
(v) (v) “Best environmental practices” means the application of the most appropriate combination of environmental control measures and strategies;
(vi) (vi) “New source” means any source of which the construction or substantial modification is commenced at least one year after the date of:
Measures to Reduce or Eliminate Releases from Stockpiles and Wastes
(ii) (ii) Disposed of in such a way that the persistent organic pollutant content is destroyed or irreversibly transformed so that they do not exhibit the characteristics of persistent organic pollutants or otherwise disposed of in an environmentally sound manner when destruction or irreversible transformation does not represent the environmentally preferable option or the persistent organic pollutant content is low, taking into account international rules, standards, and guidelines, including those that may be developed pursuant to paragraph 2, and relevant global and regional regimes governing the management of hazardous wastes;
(e) (e) Endeavour to develop appropriate strategies for identifying sites contaminated by chemicals listed in Annex A, B or C; if remediation of those sites is undertaken it shall be performed in an environmentally sound manner.
Financial Resources and Mechanisms
(d) The modalities for the determination in a predictable and identifiable manner of the amount of funding necessary and available for the implementation of this Convention, keeping in mind that the phasing out of persistent organic pollutants might require sustained funding, and the conditions under which that amount shall be periodically reviewed; and
Basel Convention
Treaty articles
Preamble
Mindful also that the most effective way of protecting human health and the environment from the dangers posed by such wastes is the reduction of their generation to a minimum in terms of quantity and/or hazard potential,
General Obligations
(b) Require that hazardous wastes and other wastes that are to be the subject of a transboundary movement be packaged, labelled, and transported in conformity with generally accepted and recognized international rules and standards in the field of packaging, labelling, and transport, and that due account is taken of relevant internationally recognized practices;
8. Each Party shall require that hazardous wastes or other wastes, to be exported, are managed in an environmentally sound manner in the State of import or elsewhere. Technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of wastes subject to this Convention shall be decided by the Parties at their first meeting.
Transboundary Movement between Parties
11. Any transboundary movement of hazardous wastes or other wastes shall be covered by insurance, bond or other guarantee as may be required by the State of import or any State of transit which is a Party.
International Co-operation
(a) Upon request, make available information, whether on a bilateral or multilateral basis, with a view to promoting the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes and other wastes, including harmonization of technical standards and practices for the adequate management of hazardous wastes and other wastes;
Conference of the Parties
(a) Promote the harmonization of appropriate policies, strategies and measures for minimizing harm to human health and the environment by hazardous wastes and other wastes;
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Treaty articles
Preamble
Recalling also that States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction,
Recognizing that States should enact effective environmental legislation, that environmental standards, management objectives and priorities should reflect the environmental and developmental context to which they apply, and that standards applied by some countries may be inappropriate and of unwarranted economic and social cost to other countries, in particular developing countries,
Commitments
(c) (c) Calculations of emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases for the purposes of subparagraph (b) above should take into account the best available scientific knowledge, including of the effective capacity of sinks and the respective contributions of such gases to climate change. The Conference of the Parties shall consider and agree on methodologies for these calculations at its first session and review them regularly thereafter;
Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice
(c) Identify innovative, efficient and state-of-the-art technologies and know-how and advise on the ways and means of promoting development and/or transferring such technologies;
Plant Treaty
Treaty articles
Facilitated access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture within the Multilateral System
(g) g) Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture accessed under the Multilateral System and conserved shall continue to be made available to the Multilateral System by the recipients of those plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, under the terms of this Treaty; and
(h) h) Without prejudice to the other provisions under this Article, the Contracting Parties agree that access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture found in in situ conditions will be provided according to national legislation or, in the absence of such legislation, in accordance with such standards as may be set by the Governing Body.
Benefit-sharing in the Multilateral System
13.6 13.6 The Contracting Parties shall consider modalities of a strategy of voluntary benefit-sharing contributions whereby Food Processing Industries that benefit from plant genetic resources for food and agriculture shall contribute to the Multilateral System.
Ex Situ Collections of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture held by the International Agricultural Research Centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(d) d) The scientific and technical facilities in which such ex situ collections are conserved shall remain under the authority of the IARCs, which undertake to manage and administer these ex situ collections in accordance with internationally accepted standards, in particular the Genebank Standards as endorsed by the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Treaty articles
The Secretariat
(c) (c) to undertake scientific and technical studies in accordance with programmes authorized by the Conference of the Parties as will contribute to the implementation of the present Convention, including studies concerning standards for appropriate preparation and shipment of living specimens and the means of identifying specimens;
Kyoto Protocol
Treaty articles
Article 3
4. 4. Prior to the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol, each Party included in Annex I shall provide, for consideration by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, data to establish its level of carbon stocks in 1990 and to enable an estimate to be made of its changes in carbon stocks in subsequent years. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall, at its first session or as soon as practicable thereafter, decide upon modalities, rules and guidelines as to how, and which, additional human-induced activities related to changes in greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removals by sinks in the agricultural soils and the land-use change and forestry categories shall be added to, or subtracted from, the assigned amounts for Parties included in Annex I, taking into account uncertainties, transparency in reporting, verifiability, the methodological work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the advice provided by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice in accordance with Article 5 and the decisions of the Conference of the Parties. Such a decision shall apply in the second and subsequent commitment periods. A Party may choose to apply such a decision on these additional human-induced activities for its first commitment period, provided that these activities have taken place since 1990.
Article 5
1. 1. Each Party included in Annex I shall have in place, no later than one year prior to the start of the first commitment period, a national system for the estimation of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. Guidelines for such national systems, which shall incorporate the methodologies specified in paragraph 2 below, shall be decided upon by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol at its first session.
3. 3. The global warming potentials used to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalence of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases listed in Annex A shall be those accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties at its third session. Based on the work of, inter alia, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and advice provided by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall regularly review and, as appropriate, revise the global warming potential of each such greenhouse gas, taking fully into account any relevant decisions by the Conference of the Parties. Any revision to a global warming potential shall apply only to commitments under Article 3 in respect of any commitment period adopted subsequent to that revision.
Article 6
2. 2. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol may, at its first session or as soon as practicable thereafter, further elaborate guidelines for the implementation of this Article, including for verification and reporting.
Article 7
4. 4. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall adopt at its first session, and review periodically thereafter, guidelines for the preparation of the information required under this Article, taking into account guidelines for the preparation of national communications by Parties included in Annex I adopted by the Conference of the Parties. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall also, prior to the first commitment period, decide upon modalities for the accounting of assigned amounts.
Article 8
4. 4. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall adopt at its first session, and review periodically thereafter, guidelines for the review of implementation of this Protocol by expert review teams taking into account the relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties.
Article 12
7. 7. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall, at its first session, elaborate modalities and procedures with the objective of ensuring transparency, efficiency and accountability through independent auditing and verification of project activities.
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Treaty articles
Information Collection, Analysis and Exchange
(i) aim to use compatible standards and systems;
Transfer, Acquisition, Adaptation and Development of Technology
1. The Parties undertake, as mutually agreed and in accordance with their respective national legislation and/or policies, to promote, finance and/or facilitate the financing of the transfer, acquisition, adaptation and development of environmentally sound, economically viable and socially acceptable technologies relevant to combating desertification and/or mitigating the effects of drought, with a view to contributing to the achievement of sustainable development in affected areas. Such cooperation shall be conducted bilaterally or multilaterally, as appropriate, making full use of the expertise of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The Parties shall, in particular:
Rotterdam Convention
Treaty articles
The Parties to this Convention
Recognizing that good management practices for chemicals should be promoted in all countries, taking into account, inter alia, the voluntary standards laid down in the International Code of Conduct and the UNEP Code of Ethics on the International Trade in Chemicals,
LISTING OF CHEMICALS IN ANNEX III
1. 1. For each chemical that the Chemical Review Committee has decided to recommend for listing in Annex III, it shall prepare a draft decision guidance document. The decision guidance document should, at a minimum, be based on the information specified in Annex I, or, as the case may be, Annex IV, and include information on uses of the chemical in a category other than the category for which the final regulatory action applies.
INFORMATION TO ACCOMPANY EXPORTED CHEMICALS
4. 4. With respect to the chemicals referred to in paragraph 2 that are to be used for occupational purposes, each exporting Party shall require that a safety data sheet that follows an internationally recognized format, setting out the most up-to-date information available, is sent to each importer.
Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds
Treaty articles
General Conservation Measures
(b) (b) ensure that any use of migratory waterbirds is based on an assessment of the best available knowledge of their ecology and is sustainable for the species as well as for the ecological systems that support them;
Action Plan and Conservation Guidelines
4. 4. The Conservation Guidelines shall be submitted to the Meeting of the Parties for adoption at its first session, and shall be regularly reviewed.
Barcelona Convention
Treaty articles
Article 4 GENERAL UNDERTAKINGS
2. The Contracting Parties shall cooperate in the formulation and adoption of Protocols, in addition to the protocols opened for signature at the same time as this Convention, prescribing agreed measures, procedures and standards for the implementations of this Convention.
Article 10 MONITORING
3. The Contracting Parties undertake to cooperate in the formulation, adoption and implementation of such Annexes to this Convention as may be required to prescribe common procedures and standards for pollution monitoring.
Dumping Protocol
Treaty articles
Article 6
2. The Contracting Parties shall draw up and adopt criteria, guidelines and procedures for the dumping of wastes or other matter listed in Article 4.2 so as to prevent, abate and eliminate pollution.
Prevention and Emergency Protocol
Treaty articles
Article 15 : Environmental Risks of Maritime Traffic
Article is tagged with best practice
The Contracting Parties to the present Protocol,
Acknowledging also the contribution of the European Community to the implementation of international standards as regards maritime safety and the prevention of pollution from ships,
Applying the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle and the method of environmental impact assessment, and utilizing the best available techniques and the best environmental practices, as provided for in Article 4 of the Convention,
Offshore Protocol
Treaty articles
ARTICLE 10 OIL AND OILY MIXTURES AND DRILLING FLUIDS AND CUTTINGS
Article is tagged with best practice
ARTICLE 23 INTERNATIONAL RULES, STANDARDS AND RECOMMENDED PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES
Article is tagged with best practice
ARTICLE 3 GENERAL UNDERTAKINGS
1. The Parties shall take, individually or through bilateral or multilateral cooperation, all appropriate measures to prevent, abate, combat and control pollution in the Protocol Area resulting from activities, inter alia by ensuring that the best available techniques, environmentally effective and economically appropriate, are used for this purpose.
ARTICLE 4 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1. All activities in the Protocol Area, including erection on site of installations, shall be subject to the prior written authorization for exploration or exploitation from the competent authority. Such authority, before granting the authorization, shall be satisfied that the installation has been constructed according to international standards and practice and that the operator has the technical competence and the financial capacity to carry out the activities. Such authorization shall be granted in accordance with the appropriate procedure, as defined by the competent authority.
ARTICLE 8 GENERAL OBLIGATION
Without prejudice to other standards or obligations referred to in this Section, the Parties shall impose a general obligation upon operators to use the best available, environmentally effective and economically appropriate techniques and to observe internationally accepted standards regarding wastes, as well as the use, storage and discharge of harmful or noxious substances and materials, with a view to minimizing the risk of pollution.
ARTICLE 9 HARMFUL OR NOXIOUS SUBSTANCES AND MATERIALS
2. The Contracting Party may regulate, limit or prohibit the use of chemicals for the activities in accordance with guidelines to be adopted by the Contracting Parties.
Hazardous Wastes Protocol
Treaty articles
ARTICLE 6 TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES
5. Every State involved in a transboundary movement ensures that such movement is consistent with international safety standards and financial guarantees, in particular the procedures and standards set out in the Basel Convention.
Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution
Treaty articles
Article 6: AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Taking into account articles 2 to 5, the ongoing research, exchange of information and monitoring and the results thereof, the cost and effectiveness of local and other remedies and, in order to combat air pollution, in particular that originating from new or rebuilt installations, each Contracting Party undertakes to develop the best policies and strategies including air quality management systems and, as part of them, control measures compatible with balanced development, in particular by using the best available technology which is economically feasible and low- and non-waste technology.
Jeddah Convention
Treaty articles
Article XI: Assessment and Management of the Environment
3. The Contracting Parties undertake to develop, individually or jointly environmental standards, both technical and other guidelines in accordance with standard scientific practice to assist the planning and execution of their projects in such a way as to minimize their harmful impact on the marine environment. In this regard international standards may be used where appropriate.
Minamata Convention on Mercury
Treaty articles
Article 2 Definitions
(b) “Best available techniques” means those techniques that are the most effective to prevent and, where that is not practicable, to reduce emissions and releases of mercury to air, water and land and the impact of such emissions and releases on the environment as a whole, taking into account economic and technical considerations for a given Party or a given facility within the territory of that Party. In this context:
(c) “Best environmental practices” means the application of the most appropriate combination of environmental control measures and strategies;
Article 8 Emissions
4. For its new sources, each Party shall require the use of best available techniques and best environmental practices to control and, where feasible, reduce emissions, as soon as practicable but no later than five years after the date of entry into force of the Convention for that Party. A Party may use emission limit values that are consistent with the application of best available techniques.
8 The Conference of the Parties shall, at its first meeting, adopt guidance on:
(a) Best available techniques and on best environmental practices, taking into account any difference between new and existing sources and the need to minimize cross-media effects; and
10. The Conference of the Parties shall keep under review, and update as appropriate, the guidance developed pursuant to paragraphs 8 and 9. Parties shall take the guidance into account in implementing the relevant provisions of this Article.
Article 10 Environmentally sound interim storage of mercury, other than waste mercury
4. Parties shall cooperate, as appropriate, with each other and with relevant intergovernmental organizations and other entities, to enhance capacity-building for the environmentally sound interim storage of such mercury and mercury compounds.
Article 12 Contaminated sites
3. The Conference of the Parties shall adopt guidance on managing contaminated sites that may include methods and approaches for:
Paris Agreement
Treaty articles
Article 7
(a) Sharing information, good practices, experiences and lessons learned, including, as appropriate, as these relate to science, planning, policies and implementation in relation to adaptation actions;
(d) Assisting developing country Parties in identifying effective adaptation practices, adaptation needs, priorities, support provided and received for adaptation actions and efforts, and challenges and gaps, in a manner consistent with encouraging good practices; and
Article 13
5. The purpose of the framework for transparency of action is to provide a clear understanding of climate change action in the light of the objective of the Convention as set out in its Article 2, including clarity and tracking of progress towards achieving Parties' individual nationally determined contributions under Article 4, and Parties' adaptation actions under Article 7, including good practices, priorities, needs and gaps, to inform the global stocktake under Article 14.
(a) A national inventory report of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases, prepared using good practice methodologies accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Agreement; and
Stockholm Convention
Basel Convention
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Plant Treaty
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Kyoto Protocol
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Rotterdam Convention
Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds
Barcelona Convention
Dumping Protocol
Prevention and Emergency Protocol
Offshore Protocol
Hazardous Wastes Protocol
Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution
Jeddah Convention
Minamata Convention on Mercury
Paris Agreement