The United Nations Environment Assembly,
Emphasizing that it is important to reduce the level of exposure to lead since no known level of
exposure to lead is considered safe and recognizing the need for progress in all regions towards
addressing sources of lead exposure,
Recalling its resolutions 1/5 and 2/7 on the sound management of chemicals and waste, in
which it recognized the significant risks to human health and the environment arising from releases of
lead into the environment and encouraged action on reducing sources of lead, as well as the goal of the
Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management to achieve the environmentally sound
management of chemicals by 2020, as also reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals,
Concerned about the health and environmental impact of waste lead-acid battery recycling,
including through activities in the informal sector in developing countries, and the lack of awareness
of lead poisoning and adequate infrastructure for environmentally sound management,
Recognizing that although recycled lead is used in both developed and developing countries,
the environmental and health impact of waste lead-acid battery recycling occurs primarily in
developing countries,
Concerned that exposure to lead, including lead in paint and in waste lead-acid batteries, can
cause serious lifelong damage, especially in children, such as loss of intelligence quotient and
behavioural problems, and that exposure of pregnant women to high levels of lead can cause
miscarriage, stillbirth and malformations,
Recognizing that the sound management of chemicals and waste requires increased political
attention in order to achieve sustainable development and to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development,
Welcoming once again the work undertaken and the decisions adopted within the framework of
the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management and the Basel Convention on the
Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, among others, and
building on its resolution 1/5 and annex I thereto on strengthening the sound management of chemicals
and waste in the long term,
Recognizing the work of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint and the progress it has made,
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Welcoming also the work of the Global Partnership on Waste Management as a tool for
providing an overview analysis and recommendations for policies and actions for the environmentally
sound management of waste,
Noting the release of the model law and guidance for regulating lead paint by the
United Nations Environment Programme,
Welcoming the call to action by the World Health Assembly at its seventieth session to phase
out lead paint by 2020,
Having considered the report of the Executive Director on progress made pursuant to
resolution 2/7 on sound management of chemicals and waste,
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Stressing the importance of financial, technical, technological and capacity-building support,
particularly for developing countries and countries with economies in transition, in order to strengthen
national capabilities for the management of lead,
1. Reiterates its strong determination to continue to reduce exposure to lead, including
through promoting the environmentally sound management of waste lead-acid batteries and
eliminating lead paint;
2. Encourages Governments that have not yet done so and in the light of national
circumstances to develop, adopt and implement legislation or regulations and to support the
development of private sector strategies to eliminate lead paint, and to undertake actions throughout
the value chain, including disposal, in order to remove the risks such paints pose, especially to
vulnerable groups including pregnant women, infants and children;
3. Encourages member States to continue their efforts for the environmentally sound
management of waste lead-acid batteries, including by:
(a) Developing national strategies in order to manage the collection of waste
lead-acid batteries and addressing the issue of remediation of contaminated sites;
(b) Adequately addressing releases, emissions and exposures from waste lead-acid
batteries, including recycling, and utilizing appropriate standards and criteria;
(c) Cooperating in collecting waste lead-acid batteries for environmentally sound
processing at regional or national recycling facilities, consistent with the relevant provisions of the
Basel Convention and relevant regional conventions, such as the Bamako Convention on the Ban of
the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous
Wastes within Africa, as applicable;
4. Invites the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention to consider revising the
Technical Guidelines for the Environmentally Sound Management of Waste Lead-acid Batteries
regarding the application of new technologies in different aspects of environmentally sound
management systems;
5. Requests the Executive Director to continue to assist countries, in particular developing
countries and countries with economies in transition, in their efforts to strengthen and enhance the
national, subregional and regional implementation of environmentally sound management of waste,
subject to the availability of resources, including by providing further capacity-building with respect
to waste lead-acid batteries to implement regulatory frameworks and programmes for recycling, and
better track and trace shipments, in close cooperation with the secretariat of the Basel Convention;
6. Invites Governments and other relevant stakeholders to become a partner of the Global
Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint;
7. Urges Governments and other stakeholders to continue to support the Global
Partnership on Waste Management and, where appropriate, to take action in partnerships in core areas
of the environmentally sound management of waste;
8. Requests the Executive Director, subject to the availability of resources, to assist
countries in eliminating the use of lead paint, under the leadership of the Global Alliance to Eliminate
Lead Paint and the World Health Organization, in particular providing tools and capacity-building for
developing national legislation and regulations, and to work regionally, where appropriate;
9. Also requests the Executive Director to report to the United Nations Environment
Assembly at its fourth session on the implementation of the present resolution as part of the report on
the implementation of Environment Assembly resolutions on the sound management of chemicals and
waste.