Service provided by UNEP/OCHAThe mandate of UNEP/OCHA is to improve the international response to environmental emergencies by serving as a clearing-house for information and a switchboard for disaster notification, and alerting and acting as a broker between affected and donor countries.The secretariat should use the services provided by the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit in offering itsemergency assistance. These services could include rapid assessment through international experts, the implementation of emergency measures, and the broker function between the affected country and donor countries that are ready and willing to assist.The secretariat will seek the support of the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit in particular through its global network of National Focal Points, consisting of governmental organizations responsible for environmental emergencies at the national level, and its other partners worldwide, for the provision of emergency assistance.The secretariat will invite the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit to cooperate in the preparation of framework contracts with interested national experts in order to create a "stand-by situation", ensuring the immediate operability of an expert in an emergency situation without bureaucratic delay.These stand-by contracts will be consultancy contracts prepared in advance for the stand-by period (e.g. for one/two year(s)). The framework contracts will be at no cost to the organization during the stand-by period, if no actual operation is undertaken.Experts shall be selected according to expertise, language and geographical criteria. Regional centres under the Basel Convention could provide experts on issues pertaining to management of hazardous wastes and other wastes under the Basel Convention. The experts shall be selected by the Executive Secretary of the secretariat of the Basel Convention and nominated to the UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit.A letter of agreementMemorandum of Understanding has been signed between the secretariat of the Basel Convention and the UNEP/OCHA Environmental Unit, identifying the areas and the methodology for cooperation.[…]