What is ChemObs?
UN Environment, WHO and the Africa Institute have created a partnership to work towards the goal of an integrated health and environment observatory surveillance and information management system. The ChemObs project is funded by GEF from 2017 to 2024, implemented by UNEP and executed by WHO Africa and Africa Institute.
The ChemObs project contributes to improved health and environment in Africa by strengthening national and regional institutions, developing country owned plans of action and implementing priority chemicals and waste related interventions. The aim is to provide timely and evidence-based information to predict, prevent and reduce chemical risk to human health and the environment.
Background: Economic growth means increased risk
In recent decades the use and production of chemicals has moved from richer countries to poorer ones. In many African economies, industrial and agricultural production of chemicals has intensified. Hazardous industrial materials such as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), pesticides, arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury continue to be used in Africa. Across the continent, soil, air and water is being poisoned by increasing amounts of toxic effluent. Human and environmental health is being severely impacted. Policymakers need awareness of the impacts of harmful chemicals and waste so that steps can be taken to protect people and nature.
Building on legacies in health-environment collaboration
Chemobs was implemented after the Third Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment in Africa (IMCHE3) in 2018, which build on the legacy of the Libreville Declaration in 2008.
ChemObs aims to:
- Enable African countries to meet their reporting obligations under the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions and Montreal Protocol as well as those identified as priorities under SAICM and thus fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goal 12.4.1
- Promote evidence-based policy making
- Increase investment on chemical and waste infrastructure
These aims are achieved by providing capacity building and technical assistance activities to African countries with an emphasis on increasing awareness of the health, environment and economic impacts of harmful chemicals.
The ChemObs project, for the first time, enables multiple large and rich datasets from various sources to be collated into a single platform, ultimately delivering powerful new decision-making tools (DMTs) to streamline the setting of strategic priorities amidst complex and evolving situations. This is done through two calculators designed specifically as part of the ChemObs project. The first is a Risk & Vulnerability Calculator, developed by UNEP’s partners at PAN-UK, while the second is an Economic Cost of Inaction Calculator, developed by Pure Earth in consultation with several experts in fields of public health, environment and economics. MapX UNEP/GRID-Geneva web mapping platform displays the results in the form of dashboards, and assist pilot countries in calculations.
This webpage shares the results, guidance, and resources generated by the Observatory. It is a gateway for stakeholders and beneficiaries to access the decision-making tools developed for this project. Please contact eloise.touni@un.org for any question.
- Risk & Vulnerability Calculator to calculate the relative risk of chemicals exposure with site-level data, and to prioritize sites for intervention.
Download: Guidance (pdf) - Calculator (Excel sheet) - Economic Cost of Inaction Calculator to calculate the cost of inaction on chemicals management, with resulting units in DALYs.
Download: Guidance (pdf) - Calculator (Excel sheet)
Preliminary results of the project have been published in the MapX platform. Click on the images below to access geospatial layers and dashboards for each pilot country.
