Chemical hazards

FAO helps governments plan emergency responses to industrial chemical accidents, including:

• spills into irrigation reservoirs
• wastewater and pesticide into irrigation water
• post-tsunami, storm or flood incidents

FAO also conducts monitoring activities to aid risk management and development of preventative measures. It helps local authorities:

• establish procedures for immediate notification of chemical accidents
• develop clear control frameworks for information exchange and data collection
• enhance coordination between stakeholders

Prevention and disposal of obsolete pesticides

FAO's programme on prevention and disposal of obsolete pesticides helps developing countries deal with hazards arising from leaks, spills and pesticides. Methods have been developed to identify pesticide contamination and the risk posed to public health and the environment. Advice is given on the best course of action.

Examples of interventions supported by FAO are:

• repackaging, export and destruction of 75 tonnes of leaking dieldrin in Gao, northern Mali
• repackaging and safe storage of 40 tonnes of 50-year-old DDT stocks on a hospital site in Tunisia
• rapid relocation of pesticides stored in a flood zone in Mozambique
• repackaging of old pesticides in Bolivia
• site risk assessment and recommendations in a pesticide-contaminated refugee site in Somalia
• risk assessment and recommendations following severe contamination in port of Djibouti by copper-chrome-arsenate

Chemical hazards and the fisheries sector

The fisheries sector is highly vulnerable to risks posed by oil spills and release of toxins. An example was the 2002 sinking of The Prestige oil tanker off Spain’s north coast – an environmental catastrophe that had serious consequences for the area’s fishing industry. Less high-profile but equally serious are pipeline and drilling accidents causing hydrocarbon spills and blowouts.

Chemical hazards and water

Arsenic contamination in groundwater has been reported in more than 20 countries around the world, in many, shallow groundwater is used for both drinking and irrigation purposes. Natural arsenic in groundwater at concentrations above the drinking water standard of 10 µg/litre is not uncommon, and the realization that water resources can contain insidious toxic concentrations of naturally-occurring chemical constituents, such as arsenic, is fairly recent and increasingly urgent.