Specific Regional Mandate of BCCC-Africa

The Centre has the mandate to:

Serve as Centre of excellence for improved capacity building and service delivery at the regional level on hazardous waste issues and facilitating the coordination of the activities of the three Basel Convention Regional Centres for training and technology transfer hosted in South Africa, Senegal and Egypt.This coordinating role is in accordance with the Decision 111/19 of the conference of parties to the Basel Convention.

Provide structural support in policy development and harmonised direction to the regional centres (BCRCs) in Egypt, South Africa and Senegal through among other means training, networking, the integration of standards, systems, capacity building programs, technology identification/adaptation and transfer toward the achievement of environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes in the region.

Main Objectives of BCCC-Africa

1. Improving collaboration/communication among the BaselConvention Regional Centers and stakeholders.
2. Providing and Facilitating capacity building in the region on the implementation of the Basel Convention and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements on chemicals (Rotterdam, Stockholm, Montreal) and chemical wastes.
3. Preparation and successful realization of projects in capacity building of the Basel Convention Regional Centres
4. Implementing the obligations of the Convention, and
5. Environmentally Sound Management of the Basel Convention priority waste streams identified in Africa;

• Bio-medical / Healthcare waste

• POPs waste and obsolete stock

• Equipment containing POPs,

• Electronic wastes,

• Mercury waste

• Obsolete chemicals/pesticides

• Used oil

• Used Lead Acid Batteries (ULAB)

• Used tires

Vision of BCCC-Africa

To Strengthen the countries in the African Region in the Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of Hazardous Waste through defining the template for the programmes and projects for the implementation of the Basel Convention and its Amendments.

Profile of Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training & Technology Transfer for the African Region (BCCC-Africa)

Based on the decision to establish Basel Convention Regional Centres (BCRCs) worldwide taken by the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention pursuant to Article 14 of the Convention, BCRCs were established to cater for capacity building in developing s and economies in transition countries to be able to tackle the technical, legal and institutional requirements for implementation of the Convention.

Decision III/19 of the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties, agreed on the establishment of two coordinating centres: in Nigeria for the African Region and in Uruguay for the Latin America and the Caribbean.Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training & Technology Transfer for the African  Region (BCCC-Africa) was established in September 1994 and has since been in operation to service the entire African continent. The Centre was also established as the Federal Ministry of Environment-University of Ibadan Linkage Centre for Cleaner Production Technology & Hazardous Waste Management. This Centre is located within the serene environment of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria's premier university, in South-West of Nigeria.

BCCC-Africa coordinates the Basel Convention Regional centres in: South Africa (for Anglophone countries in Africa), Senegal (for Francophone countries in Africa), and Egypt (for Arab states)

The Centre plays a key role in building the capacity of the African countries to implement the Basel Convention and its amendments , and to enhance their knowledge of chemicals and hazardous wastes issues and to address their lack of inventories on waste generation and other infrastructural deficiencies which are expressed in the priority needs of the countries. The Centre receives financial assistance from the Federal Government of Nigeria, and the Basel Convention Trust fund. Potential future sources of funding include revenue from the services provided, fees and earned interest charged by the Centre.

Facilities available at BCCC-Africa

The Centre is currently housed in a bungalow located at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. This building was funded solely by the Federal Government of Nigeria and was officially commissioned on August 9th 2004 by the Honourable Minister of Environment then, Colonel Bala Mande (retired).

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