Project Details:
Impact of Scientific Developments on the Chemical Weapons Convention
| Project No.: | 2011-036-1-020 |
| Start date: | 2011-11-01 |
| End date: | 2013-05-01 |
| Division: | Executive Committee |
To provide advice to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on scientific developments that may have an impact on the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and on the Review Conference for the CWC to be held by the States Parties in October 2013.
In 2013, OPCW will convene its Third Review Conference - a diplomatic conference to be held every 5 years to review the operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention ("the Convention"). As stipulated by the Convention, one key objective of such reviews is to evaluate the impact of advances in science and technology on the Convention.
This project will be to contribute to this review of advances in science and technology, by bringing together the expertise available to IUPAC and the OPCW. IUPAC will be able to reach into the experience and knowledge about advances in chemical research and production that resides its Divisions and constituent societies and academies on a global scale. The OPCW will contribute the expertise resident in its Scientific Advisory Board and the governments of CWC Member States. OPCW is at a critical stage as its responsibilities with respect to destruction of chemical weapons will be reduced in the foreseeable future. In addition, the commonly-discussed convergence of chemistry and biology, the globalization of advanced scientific research, and the pace of research today add complexity to the scientific questions and make this workshop particularly important to the organization. The chemical industry will also be involved in this process.
A three-day workshop in Spiez, Switzerland will feature a number of talks in areas such as Advances in Chemical Synthesis, Chemical Production Technology, the so-called Convergence of Chemistry and Biology, Chemical and Biomedical Analysis, Medical Countermeasures, and other topics. Much of the time will be devoted to break-out discussion sessions, where four groups, each of about twenty participants, will discuss the implications of these advances for the Chemical Weapons Convention. A final plenary session will assemble the views of participants as the basis for a report to OPCW. Speakers, commentators, and other participants are being invited as the program is finalized.
The result will be a report made available to the OPCW and its Member States in time for their preparations of the Third CWC Review Conference. Plans are being made for publication of a summary report and extended abstracts of the lectures in Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Background information on the Chemical Weapons Convention is available at www.opcw.org
Jan 2012 - project announcement published in Chem. Int. Jan-Feb 2012, p. 23
Mar 2013 – Impact of scientific developments on the Chemical Weapons Convention (IUPAC Technical Report) published Pure Appl. Chem., 2013, Vol. 85, No. 4, pp. 851-881; http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REP-12-11-18 (first published online 16 Feb 2013).
This document represents the final report of discussions and conclusions arising from the workshop on Developments in Science and Technology Relevant to the Chemical Weapons Convention, held in Spiez, Switzerland in February 2012.
A related feature is to appear in Chem Int in July-Aug 2013
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project completed
Last updated 7 June 2013