Plant Protection Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development  and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized the closing workshop for GEF funded project on Building capacity to eliminate POPs pesticides stockpiles in Vietnam.

The project’s activities focus on three areas including:

1. Improved capacity for handing pesticide stockpiles,
2. Destroyed known stockpiles and
3. Improved management capacity to prevent the importation and use of banned POP pesticides

Under overall objectives of the project between UN and MONRE and MARD, FAO cover two main Outcomes, including Outcome 1: Improved capacity building facilitates elimination of POPs pesticides stockpiles and Outcome 3: Improved chemicals management prevents importation and use of POPs pesticides.
FAO is the specialized agency that will help to develop technical and management guidelines for the treatment of contaminated sites, destruction procedures, and provide training for the national institutions and government agencies to handle POP stockpiles.

The technical guidelines have been developed for monitoring the implementation and ensuring that risk to workers and environment is reduced. It will develop a POP pesticide information system using its Pesticide Stock Management System tool (PSMS).

FAO has brought experience and expertise from its global programme to clean up obsolete pesticides, prevent future toxic threats and protect human health and the environment.

FAO has helped to develop technical and management guidelines for the treatment of contaminated sites, destruction procedures and provide training for national institutions and government agencies to handle POP stockpiles.

The technical guidelines developed for Vietnam will be used to monitor implementation and ensure that the risk to workers and the environment is reduced.

Opening the workshop, Director General of  Plant Protection Department, MARD said “it is no doubt that we can make a contribution to improve the pesticide management for our country”

Dr. Kevin Helps, Senior Technical Officer (Pesticide Disposal) from FAO emphasizes that “the project is a great example as to how the international community and the UN System can assist countries through the provision of targeted technical support. Vietnam is blessed with a  great deal of highly trained and professional staff and this project has been successful in providing them with the tools to move forward in all areas that the project aimed to address. It has been a great privilege to work with the team in Vietnam and I look forward to future cooperation”
FAOs support to the implementation of the project has focused on the following key areas:

1.Training: As the technical agency mandated to support countries in the management of pesticides FAO has provided support focusing on ensuring compliance to international best practice related to POPs and pesticide management. This is equally important to the management of banned POPs chemicals and new pesticides used to combat pest outbreaks;

2.Risk Assessment of POPs contaminated sites: To support MONRE in the evaluation of risks from the contaminated sites in Vietnam and providing training to local experts on how to safely supervise the implementation of hazardous operations involving management of POPs wastes;

3.Risk Reduction from pesticide use: Support to PPD on establishing the baseline assessment of the management of pesticides throughout their life cycle (from registration of new pesticides to formulation of products to sale and post sale use by farmers). The reviews have all provided a detailed analysis of the challenges facing Vietnam if risks from pesticide use on public health and the environment are to be reduced. We must now focus on which areas we need to address first and decide how FAO and PPD can work together to achieve a common vision.

The workshop provides an opportunity for participants to:

- Assess key results achieved under the technical assistance component of FAO in POPs pesticide;
- Discuss ways forward to eliminate future toxic threats and protect human health and the environment including identified key issues, priorities in management of empty container management, life cycle management and communication