NSP - Country Projects
 

Country Projects

The pages in this section provide a summary of current activities of the Prevention and Disposal of Obsolete Pesticides programme in various regions of the world. 


GCP/INT/063/EC:

The European Commission programme on “Capacity Building related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries” consists of two components: 1) support to regional MEA hubs; and 2) support to the implementation of specific MEAs. FAO executes a subcomponent of component 2 titled “The clean-up of obsolete pesticides, pesticides management and sustainable pest management” (the project) .

The project aims to build the capacity of the ACP countries to prevent and dispose obsolete stocks of pesticides.  At its fourth and final year of implementation, the project has achieved significant progress in achieving its national and regional outcomes, as follows:

Inventory, safeguarding and disposal of obsolete stocks of pesticides (outcomes 1, 2 and 3).
Most of the project countries have completed their inventories of pesticide stocks. During the reporting period, national inventories of obsolete stocks of pesticides have been also completed in Burkina Faso and Niger, validated and uploaded into PSMS. In the meantime, existing obsolete stocks have been  safeguarded in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi and partially in Cameroon; and safely shipped out of Samoa for disposal in New Zealand. A new standard FAO framework contract for safeguarding and disposal is being finalised which will be used for all future disposal tenders undertaken by FAO. The contract for disposal of pesticides from the aforementioned African countries is expected to be awarded in June.

Pesticide legislation (outcome 4).
Reviews of pesticides legislation and regulations are completed  in Cameroon, Benin and Malawi. The common pesticides registration adopted by  the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) member states in 1999, was evaluated discussed and the results validated by CILSS,  Economic Commission for Western African States (ECOWAS)  and Union Economic et Monétaire Ouest Africane (UEMOA). As a result of this process , the Common registration system is being extended to cover 17 countries in Sahel and Western Africa and the implementing body will be Comité Ouest Africain pour l’Homologation des Pesticides (COAHP) instead of Comite Sahelian des Pesticides (CSP). Progress has been made towards the development of an harmonized regional pesticides registration schemes in Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). A proposal for a regional harmonized registration scheme has been presented to the Caribbean and the Pacific countries as well.

Pesticide use reduction and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) (outcome 5).
In the Pacific region, while the planned project activities have been completed by the end of the previous year, new collaborations have began with the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Secretariat of the Pacific community (SPC) to reduce the use of pesticides on vegetable crops through the adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Cross-cutting activities to strengthen interregional pesticide management have continued to progress:

Pesticide Stock Management System (PSMS).
PSMS is a web-based database tool originally developed to collect and share information between countries on existing national pesticide stocks for agricultural purposes. During the reporting period, the scope of PSMS has been broaden to cover all uses of pesticides: agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, animal health, and public health. PSMS now includes a standard list of uses, crops and pests.

Diploma on Pesticide Risk Management (DPRM). The DPRM distance learning course was launched in March 2011 at the University of Cape Town (UTC). The course is structured around the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (the Code) published by FAO and WHO. In December 2012, the first intake of students graduated. The third edition of the course has began in March 2013.

Technical guidelines on pesticide life cycle management.
A series of technical guidelines namely Inventory of pesticides; Environmental Management Tool Kit (EMTK), Prevention of accumulation; Container management; Pest and pesticide management policy; Development and use of FAO and WHO pesticide specifications; Quality control of pesticides and registration of pesticides have been completed and are being translated into French and Spanish.

 An additional cross-cutting activity was finalised during the reporting period. A standard framework for FAO’s safeguarding and disposal contract has been developed and validated through a series of consultations with suppliers. The framework will ensure more coherence and efficiency in dealing with disposal contract of obsolete stocks. It is anticipated that the next contract will be awarded in June 2013. The framework contract will be used for the disposal of obsolete pesticides with the project funds in Botswana, Malawi,  Swaziland, and possibly in Ghana and Kenya.

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GCP/INT/153/EC:

The second phase (ACP/MEAs 2) continues and builds on ACP/MEAs Phase 1 with an expanded scope to additional MEAs, notably the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and the mercury treaty. The purpose of ACP/MEAs 2 is to support and strengthen Institutional and  National capacity-building for the Synergistic implementation of  the target MEA clusters (chemicals/wastes and biodiversity) in ACP countries, and will assist participating countries to meet the objectives of these MEAs through the following outcomes and activities:

1. Institutional capacity
2. Capacity development of national authorities and focal points
3. Synergistic implementation of the target MEA clusters.
4. Implementation of specific field project activities

FAO will implement the project in partnership with key regional centres and institutions such as the Centre Régional des Conventions de Bâle et de Stockholm pour les pays d’Afrique francophone (CRCBS–AF) and/or the West African Committee for the Registration of Pesticides (WACRP).  Regional Economic Commissions (ECOWAS and UEMOA)  and the Institut National du Sahel, CILSS In Africa; Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) and/or the Secretariat of the Coordinating Group for Pesticides Control Boards of the Caribbean (CGPC) which is hosted in the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) in the Caribbean; and the Secretariat of Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Pacific.

 

Should you need more information, please contact OPGroup.

 Aug 2013 updated

Before: 40 tonnes of 50 year old DDT were found in Menzel Bourguiba Hospital, Tunisia
Before: 40 tonnes of 50 year old DDT were found in Menzel Bourguiba Hospital, Tunisia
FAO with USAID-OFDA finance safely repackaged 40 tonnes of DDT