Globalizing Local Initiatives: Building Partnerships Among Governments, Industry and Civil Society to Eliminate Lead Paint (SDG 1, 3, 6, 11, 12, 14, and 15)
Description
Chemicals are integral to our way of life, but some potentially causes severe harm. To achieve the 2030 goal, it is essential to address this issue relevant for most SDGs. The toxic metal lead is well known to harm children and the annual economic losses attributable to childhood lead exposure in developing countries are estimated at $977 billion. Still, lead paint is allowed for use in homes and schools in about 60% of all countries today. IPEN has therefore developed and successfully implemented a stakeholder partnership model to eliminate lead paint, leading to lead paint bans in over 15 countries.
Childhood lead exposure leads to poverty, illnesses and deaths, but despite overwhelming data showing a multitude of harmful effects, paints with high lead levels are continually manufactured and sold in many developing countries and emerging markets. In most of these countries, the general public and the national governments are basically unaware that paints sold in their local markets contain extremely high levels of lead, and paint manufacturers are not constrained to remove lead compounds from their paint formulations.<br />
IPEN is therefore implementing a Global Campaign to Eliminate Lead Paint that includes national campaigns in over 50 countries, with the aim of preventing childhood lead exposure by working for bans on the manufacture, import, sale and use of lead in all paints in all countries—an important contribution towards achieving environmentally-sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle.<br />
The key approach of the campaign is to encourage and facilitate multi-stakeholder country-level initiatives that includes policy makers, paint manufacturers, civil society, health professionals, consumer organizations and other relevant stakeholders. By creating broad support for bans on lead paint, sustainable and systemic change is seen in these countries.<br />
IPEN also work at the international level, generating high-level international political support for the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (GAELP) and its broad objective of phasing out the manufacture and sale of lead paints.<br />
Some of the key challenges in countries include the absence of national data, complex bureaucratic processes, and lack of technical information for paint reformulation. IPEN’s approach addresses these challenges by conducting national studies on the lead content of paints, mobilizing multi-stakeholders to generate high-level political attention, and establishing partnerships with the paint industry.<br />
The novelty of IPEN´s approach is its ability to elevate lead paint elimination to an issue of global concern, secure international policy support for its objectives, and mobilize resources to support its growing campaign.<br />
Specifically, the campaign aims to:<br />
• Support governments in crafting legally-binding laws that will ban the manufacture, import, sale and use of lead paint; manage its production, use and disposal; minimize human, occupational and environmental lead exposure; and reduce the number of deaths and illnesses attributed to lead poisoning.<br />
• Encourage paint manufacturers to stop using lead-containing ingredients in paint formulations that will eliminate the production of toxic products and help monitor chemical footprints.<br />
• Provide technical support to small- and medium-sized paint manufacturers (SMEs) in reformulating lead paints, link them with appropriate suppliers of safer alternatives to lead, reduce dependence on hazardous chemicals, and improve resource efficiency along supply chains.<br />
• Promote alternatives to lead paint by providing recognition to paints without added lead compounds through an independent, third-party certification program to promote safer consumer products and ensure industry compliance to existing laws.<br />
• Raise awareness on the issue of lead paint elimination and advocate for mandatory procurement of certified lead-safe paints for government and school purchasing to generate demand for safer alternatives and provide access to sustainable living and working environments for highly-vulnerable populations—young children, pregnant women, and workers in the manufacturing and construction sectors.
“The key to the success in the Philippine experience was the trust and cooperation between industry, civil society and the government in working towards a common goal—eliminating lead paint and protecting future generations.” -Johnson Ongking, Vice-President, Boysen Paints
IPEN has developed an approach to lead paint elimination that has been successful in helping NGOs initiate impactful national efforts in their respective countries, bringing country-level initiatives to regional platforms, and replicating national achievements worldwide.
Country-level NGO-led campaigns start with gathering data on the lead content of paints sold in national markets. The generated data attract the attention of the media and policy makers. Through collaborative engagements with the paint industry, medical professionals and other key actors, this multi-stakeholder approach raises the campaign to an issue of national concern, creating support for government authorities and policy makers to take urgent actions geared towards achieving their commitments under the 2030 Agenda.
While initial country-level data on lead paint is crucial in initiating national lead paint elimination efforts, it is equally important to conduct a comprehensive follow-up study that includes a wider selection of paint brands and types. These periodic studies undertaken at two- to three-year intervals are important in tracking the progress of lead paint elimination and monitoring compliance in countries with enacted regulations.
Successful country-level campaigns generate multi-stakeholder support from the government, the paint industry, civil society, the media and other relevant actors. NGOs establish partnerships and alliances with supportive stakeholders engaging them in public communication activities and inviting them to participate in consultative dialogues with political leaders and government officials. Stakeholders also contribute to monitoring progress of implementations and accountability efforts of governments.
Establishing good collaborations with industry associations become strategically important when national governments develop regulatory frameworks on lead paint. Company owners and leaders are ideal allies when they are informed about the issue as they have personal concerns about probable chemical exposure to their families and employees.
Pediatricians and academicians are good spokespersons for the campaign. Their technical knowledge adds credibility to the issue and are good resource persons in policy dialogues.
NGOs reach out to SMEs to encourage them to reformulate, understand the challenges and difficulties they must overcome, and establish working relations to develop sustainable strategies to address their concerns. In some cases, the paint industry associations take a proactive role in helping their SME members by linking them with appropriate suppliers who can provide technical knowhow and assistance to SMEs.
Paint companies who are already producing lead-safe paints are encouraged to participate in independent, third-party certification programs which verifies paints do not contain added lead. Such programs promote safer consumer products, provide information to consumers allowing them to make informed purchasing decisions, and help government in monitoring compliance with existing laws. Third-party certification programs are useful tool in tracking industry progress towards responsible production and sustainable practices aligned with SDG targets.
IPEN-supported national campaigns are continuously replicated in many countries. To date, national campaigns have been conducted in nearly 60 countries across all regions, increasing the capacity of local NGOs in elevating the issue of lead paint elimination at the national level. In addition, IPEN NGOs have been participating in regional policy dialogues and international policy meetings, strengthening NGO inclusion and contribution in international policy making
Based on subsequent analytical studies conducted in countries with enacted regulations, the percentage of lead paint manufactured and sold in national markets has significantly declined, which demonstrates paint companies’ initiatives to adopt sustainable practices in compliance to existing national laws.
At the onset of multi-year regional projects, initial country reports showed that only a few large multinational and local paint companies began selling paints without added lead. Reformulating paints take time and resources and as NGOs continue to reach out to more paint manufacturers, particularly SMEs, encouraging them to reformulate their paints, these companies get to know the chemicals present in their products and across supply chains—an important step towards implementing chemical footprint reductions.
After two to three years, most market-leading brands and some SMEs have subsequently started producing and selling paints without added lead. This indicates that more companies are adopting sustainable manufacturing practices to minimize the use of hazardous chemicals in their production processes.
Currently, a total of four paint companies—two in the Philippines and one each in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka—acquired brand certifications under the Lead Safe Paint® Certification Program, verifying that their paints pass the 90-ppm standard limit. Two more paint companies are currently in various stages of getting their brands certified while more paint companies have shown interest in joining the program—a replicable and sustainable method for measuring progress towards the use of safer substitutes.
Overall, IPEN’s national lead paint elimination campaigns in many countries across all regions in the world have resulted in visible results at the country and regional levels. These outcomes, geared towards the protection of human health and the improvement of living environments by reducing dependence on toxic chemicals, will have positive and long-term impacts on the most vulnerable groups, which includes children, women and most labor workforces.
SAICM’s 2020 goal of achieving sound chemicals management has enabled national campaign initiatives receive more serious consideration, international attention and cooperation from national governments, paint companies and other stakeholders. In fact, the lead paint component strategies under the ongoing SAICM-GEF Project are built upon IPEN NGOs’ on-the-ground experiences.
IPEN reports the progress of its national campaigns to GAELP and supports organized activities for GAELP’s International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action (ILPPWA)—a global initiative first organized by GAELP in 2013 under the leadership of WHO and UNEP. In 2018, ILLPWA events aimed to create awareness on lead poisoning with a particular focus on eliminating lead paint were held in at least 75 cities in 50 countries. Moreover, registering its country initiatives as contributions to ILPPWA and GAELP objectives enables NGOs to secure cooperation and funding in its lead paint elimination work and other advocacies from other GAELP partners such as WHO and UNEP.
The presence of advocacy champions from the government, industry, civil society and other sectors bolstered international support and commitment for lead paint in the past few years or since IPEN first presented data on lead in paint at the 2nd International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM2) in 2009. At the said meeting, over a hundred delegates unanimously agreed to adopt a resolution on lead in paint proposed by IPEN that called for an end to the manufacture and use of lead paints in all countries, and subsequently led to the formation of GAELP—a multi-stakeholder partnership in support of global, regional and country-level initiatives to eliminate lead paint.
The short-term goal of GAELP at its formation was to prioritize the elimination of lead from architectural decorative household paints, with a long-term goal of eliminating lead from all paints by 2020. This goal may not be achievable given the limited time left, but there is optimism that this goal can be achieved under the chemical-related targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Momentum towards complete elimination of lead in all paints have begun as shown by initiatives made by governments adopting regulations and paint companies removing lead from all its product lines.
Successful global elimination of lead paint is achievable when all countries have enforced lead paint regulations and paint companies eliminate lead from paint formulations. Active NGO campaigns conducted at both national and international levels have resulted in the adoption of legally-binding lead paint regulations in nine countries, and progress have been made to develop new standards or improve old policies in more countries. A few regional communities have also developed lead paint standards restricting the use of lead in paint which will be implemented by member countries in their national regulatory systems
Subsequent experiences from the country-level campaigns and regional projects were then utilized in developing the project strategies of the ongoing GEF-SAICM Project in at least 40 countries with a primary objective of accelerating the adoption of national and value chain initiatives to control emergency policy issues and contributing to the 2020 SAICM goal of having all countries adopting legally-binding instruments on lead paint and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Since 2015, IPEN NGOs conducted national studies on the lead content of solvent-based decorative household paints in 46 countries worldwide—16 in Africa, 14 in Asia, nine in the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asian (EECCA) region, five in Latin America and the Caribbean region, and two in the Middle East. Awareness-raising activities are continually being conducted in many countries around the world with the aim to get countries to adopt regulatory policies and standards on lead in paint—an important indicator of a country’s success in ensuring healthy lifestyles and sustainable production.
The direct result of IPEN’s replication of country-level campaigns through regional projects paved the way for the adoption of legally-binding regulations in nine Asian and African countries, and new policy initiatives in more than 10 countries. With the help of IPEN NGOs, draft standards and regulations are currently being finalized and old policies are being revised to accommodate a more health-protective regulatory standards in more countries. NGOs who have worked with lead paint elimination campaigns in their respective countries have not only been instrumental in pushing for regulatory changes in their respective countries but were also contributors to regional and international policy meetings.
The Lead Safe Paint® Certification Program has also been expanded in more countries. two medium-sized paint companies are currently undertaking steps to get their brands certified under the Program. More paint manufacturers in countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America have also expressed interest to join the Program.
Associated costs to global lead exposure are significant. A study on the reductions in national labor productivity concluded that economic losses attributable to childhood lead exposure in all low- and middle-income countries were an estimated $977 billion per year or approximately 2.65 percent of the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean region.
In addition, the cost of removing lead paint in old residential houses, school facilities and other buildings is substantial, while the economic cost of substituting lead compounds with safer ingredients in paint formulations is minimal. Based on testimonies from paint manufacturers, the cost difference for purchasing substitute ingredients only constitute a small percentage of a company’s total cost of production as evidenced by the increasing number of paint manufacturers, including SMEs, reformulating their products. Moreover, as the demand for safer alternatives increases, the price difference between lead compounds and substitute ingredients decreases
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set ambitious targets for improving the quality of human health and the environment by reducing dependence on hazardous chemicals like lead.<br />
Multiple country data show that lead paints are continually being manufactured and sold in many countries worldwide. Eliminating lead paint is critical in minimizing illnesses and deaths linked to lead exposure, and alleviating poverty caused by the socio-economic impacts of childhood lead exposure.<br />
Through the years, IPEN substantially expanded the number of countries across all regions where national campaigns had an impact on the national government’s willingness to consider developing a national regulatory framework to control the manufacture and sale of lead paints and contribute to the chemicals-related targets of the SDGs. Experiences from on-the-ground campaigns indicate that most governments are willing to adopt legally-binding instruments and regulations when they understood the dangers of lead paint and were shown data regarding the extent by which lead paints are manufactured, sold and imported into their respective countries.<br />
The paint industry has now increasingly recognized and supported lead paint elimination efforts. Based on testimonies of several paint manufacturers, a comprehensive elimination of lead paint is achievable at a reasonable cost within a realistic timeframe. Most multinational and larger paint manufacturers started voluntary initiatives to remove lead in paint and some SMEs have now started producing paints without added lead, reducing its dependence on hazardous chemicals and improving resource efficiency along supply chains.<br />
IPEN has mobilized resources and support expanding its country-level campaigns to undertake regional projects in Asia and Africa with the goal of getting more lead paint data in as many countries which were helpful in driving governments and the paint industry to develop strategies and long-term plans eliminating lead paint.<br />
The increasing number of country-level data generated through NGO-led campaigns has elevated lead paint elimination as an international issue of concern—globalizing local initiatives based on the momentum generated by the increasing impact of national campaigns across all regions of the world. Experiences on the ground has also built the capacity of NGOs to provide informative technical resources and act as drivers of change nationally, regionally and internationally.<br />
With a global reach, IPEN has established a third-party certification program—a voluntary mechanism for paint companies which verifies that their paints pass the 90-ppm standard limit—the regulatory standard in many countries recommended by UNEP. This scheme is a replicable and sustainable method for measuring progress towards the use of safer substitutes.<br />
IPEN’s substantial contribution to GAELP and its objectives has elevated its status as a recognized, experienced global actor, enhancing its ability to build a real and sustainable drive towards achieving global lead paint elimination—a best-practice approach to globalizing local initiatives. In addition, its success in getting higher level international policy commitment for its chemical-related campaigns enabled it to mobilize resources and support for its growing national campaigns, providing a concrete example of how the approach works in practice
• IPEN, Eliminating Lead Paint. IPEN’s lead paint elimination activities, including national campaigns, projects, research studies, and other resource materials and information can be accessed at https://ipen.org/projects/eliminating-lead-paint.
• WHO, Lead Poisoning and Health. Information on lead and its health effects is available at https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-….
• UNEP, Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (GAELP). GAELP brings together national and international partners working on lead paint elimination. Its broad objective is to phase out the manufacture and sale of paints containing lead and to eventually eliminate the risks that such paints pose. All these info and UNEP’s publication on the Model Law and Guidance for Regulating Lead Paint can be accessed at https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/chemicals-waste/what-we-do….
• WHO, International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action (ILPPWA). This annual event takes place every fourth of October which aims to raise public awareness on lead poisoning, with a particular focus on eliminating lead in all paints https://www.who.int/ipcs/lead_campaign/en/.
• IPEN, Lead Safe Paint® Certification. This discusses the independent, third-party certification program that IPEN has developed that lets customers know that the paint they are purchasing contains less than 90 ppm lead—the standard recommended by UNEP and the most restrictive regulatory standard for lead content in the world. Information about the program is available at www.leadsafepaint.org.
• IPEN, Paint Industry Leader Reveals Secrets of Philippine Success in Phasing Out Lead Paints. 10 August 2018. Available at https://ipen.org/news/paint-industry-leader-reveals-secrets-ph-success-….
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| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 14.1 | By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution |
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JEIEL GUARINO, Global Lead Paint Elimination Campaigner