Geneva/Nairobi,
16 June 2008 -A new project launched today
by the United Nations Environment Programme
will help the Government of Côte d'Ivoire
and others in the region to manage hazardous
waste, both within their countries and across
borders.
The initiative, funded
by the Governments of the Netherlands, Sweden
and Denmark, aims to help address the issue
of systemic weaknesses in controlling the
movements of hazardous waste between countries,
as well as the management of hazardous waste
and waste generated on ships.
The project addresses
several important issues which were highlighted
by the dumping of hazardous waste from the
vessel 'Probo Koala' in Abidjan's residential
areas in August 2006: gaps in the international
instruments controlling transboundary movements
of hazardous wastes and waste generated
on ships, unscrupulous behavior from some
private operators, and the need to strengthen
hazardous waste management capacity in many
developing countries, including in Côte
d'Ivoire.
As part of the UNEP
initiative, a hazardous waste management
plan will be developed for the District
of Abidjan, whose inhabitants were directly
affected by the Probo Koala incident. The
plan will be developed in consultation with
local stakeholders in the sector, based
on verified data on the quantity and quality
of waste, and taking into account the existing
legal framework.
The project is being
implemented by UNEP's Post-Conflict and
Disaster Management Branch and the Basel
Convention Regional Centre for French-speaking
Countries in Africa, based in Senegal (BCRC-Senegal),
in consultation with the Secretariat of
the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their
Disposal.
To address problems
relating to the environmentally sound management
of hazardous waste and other waste in the
Port of Abidjan, recommendations will be
provided, in cooperation with the International
Maritime Organisation (IMO), for the improvement
of port systems and procedures. Various
government agencies that play a role in
the management of hazardous waste entering
the port will also be targeted for training.
Recognizing that good
management practices at home are ineffective
unless coupled with a similar strengthening
of management capacity in the region, the
project will promote the coordinated enforcement
of relevant Multilateral Environmental Agreements
in several African countries.
These instruments include
the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their
Disposal, the Rotterdam and the Stockholm
Conventions, the WHO International Health
Regulations and MARPOL 73/78.
In Côte d'Ivoire,
the activities will be undertaken by the
Government of Côte d'Ivoire and the
BCRC-Senegal in cooperation with the Basel
Convention Secretariat. This pilot programme
for Côte d'Ivoire is funded by the
SAICM Quick Start Programme. It will then
be replicated-initially in other French-speaking
countries in the region, but with the possibility
of expanding to English-speaking countries
as well.
Finally, the project
will study the feasibility of developing
and implementing an early warning system
between authorities in Europe and Africa,
with the involvement of the International
Maritime Organization.
This should be the first step towards a
system whereby information on the movement
of hazardous waste into Africa is provided
to the relevant authorities in a timely
manner, allowing them to take preventive
or preparatory action for the management
of hazardous waste.
Although the situation
may differ in every country, the incident
of the dumping of hazardous waste in the
port of Abidjan has illustrated some gaps
and shortcomings that may well be found
in other countries in Africa. The consultation
process between the Government of Côte
d'Ivoire and several UNEP and UN agencies
has helped develop a preliminary program
of action to address these gaps.
This process could be
considered useful to other countries in
the region as well. In this context, a second
phase of the programme which was developed
in the aftermath of the Probo Koala incident
in Côte d'Ivoire is being prepared
for donors to cover eight vulnerable countries
hosting port facilities in Africa. The capacity
building programme (Phase II) would include
similar activities to those undertaken in
Côte d'Ivoire in each participating
country.
Notes to editors:
The 1989 Basel Convention on the Control
of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal has two pillars;
first, it regulates the transboundary movements
of hazardous and other wastes. Second, the
Convention obliges its Parties to ensure
that such wastes are managed and disposed
of in an environmentally sound manner (ESM).
To this end, Parties
are required to minimize the quantities
that are moved across borders, to treat
and dispose of wastes as close as possible
to their place of generation and to prevent
or minimize the generation of wastes at
source. Strong controls have to be applied
from the generation of a hazardous waste
to its storage, transport, treatment, reuse,
recycling, recovery and final disposal.
The Basel Convention
has 14 Regional and Coordinating Centres,
with one or more operating on every continent.
The Centres develop and undertake regional
projects, and deliver training and technology
transfer for the implementation of the Convention
under the direction of the Conference of
the Parties and of the Secretariat of the
Convention.
Recent years have seen
efforts under the Basel Convention to develop
a global strategy for environmentally sound
waste management. This included support
for the launch of the Mobile Phone Partnership
Initiative, hopefully the first of several
Strategic Partnerships in different areas
of waste management.
For more information
on the Basel Convention, please visit www.basel.int/
For More Information Please Contact
In Nairobi: Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson,
Office of the Executive Director
+ More
Tierramérica
wins prestigious environmental award
Nairobi, 13 June 2008-
Tierramérica, an environmental newswire
sponsored by the UN Environment Programme,
has been awarded the Zayed Prize for the
Environment.
The wire's weekly news
insert and radio broadcasts are carried
by 20 newspapers and 400 radio stations
in Latin America, bringing environment news
to thousands of people across the continent.
Tierramérica
was jointly awarded the $200,000 Zayed award
for 'environmental action leading to positive
change in society' along with Senegalese
NGO Environment Development Action in the
Third World (ENDA).
The recognition by the
prestigious Zayed Prize bears witness to
the strong impact Tierramérica has
had since its launch in 1995. The weekly
print edition of Tierramérica is
now published in newspapers and magazines
in 10 countries including Belize, Brazil,
Bolivia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Venezuela.
As well as providing
an independent source of news on the environment
and sustainable development, Tierramérica
serves as a space for debate, drawing a
wide range of actors from Latin America
and beyond. Its outstanding editorial board
includes Mexican author Carlos Fuentes,
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchú,
Earth Council president Maurice Strong and
Brazilian football superstar Ronaldo, among
others.
The Zayed Prize, which is worth a total
of US$1 million, is given out every two
years. Its objective is to recognize and
promote major pioneering contributions in
the field of environment and sustainable
development.
This year's other Zayed
Prize winners are UN climate envoy Gro Harlem
Brundtland, marine biologist Jane Lubchenco
and climatologist V. Ramanathan.
Ms Brundtland is a former
Prime Minister of Norway who has served
as the Director General of the World Health
Organization ? she is now a Special Envoy
on Climate Change for the United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. She chaired
the Brundtland Commission, whose report
Our Common Future in 1987 formed the baseline
for UNEP's GEO-4 assessment published in
October 2007.
Climatologist V. Ramanathan
is one of the lead scientists in the Atmospheric
Brown Cloud research programme supported
by UNEP, whose objective is to understand
the effects of human activities in the Asian
region to the earth's climate and environment.
+ More
In Geneva: Ms. Nicole Dawe, Information
Officer, Basel Convention Secretariat
UNEP Supports "World Class Vision"
for Nairobi
Package Targets River Clean-Ups to Waste
Management
Nairobi, 16 June 2008-A
wide-ranging new initiative to assist in
greening Kenya's capital city has been drawn
up by the UN Environment Programme(UNEP)
in cooperation with the government, the
city council, donors and UN-Habitat.
Today Achim Steiner,
UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive
Director held discussions in Gigiri with
Honorable Mutula Kilonzo, Minister for Nairobi
Metropolitan Development, on the way forward
which promises improved lives and livelihoods
for millions of Kenyans.
The discussions focused
on some key aspects of the plan including
solid waste management; air pollution improvements;
rehabilitation of the Nairobi's rivers,
new thinking on the developments along the
river fronts and energy generation from
slaughterhouse and other organic wastes.
Full details of the
package, which will support the government's
Nairobi Metro 2030: A vision for a world
class metropolis, are expected to be unveiled
soon.
Mr Steiner and the UNEP
team have already held several consultations
with both the Prime Minister, the Right
Honourable Raila Odinga and the Honourable
John Njoroge Michuki, the Environment and
Minerals Resources Minister in recent weeks
which has resulted in a framework for cooperation
covering Nairobi and the country as a whole.
Mr Steiner said UNEP
and partners were keen to kick-start several
elements of the new initiative in close
consultations with the Government of Kenya.
"UNEP, in common
with Nairobi's 4.5 million citizens, have
watched with growing alarm and concern the
rapid environmental deterioration of our
host city as a result of persistent and
emerging challenges. The loss of these environmental
assets can be reversed and indeed must be
reversed as they will underpin much of Nairobi's
economic prospects over the coming years
and decades," he said.
"The commitment
and resolve of the Kenya Coalition Government
now gives UNEP the impetus and opportunity
to support that positive change. We are
determined, through a combination of financial,
scientific and technical support to explore
how best to assist in the transformation
of Nairobi into a vibrant, healthy and functioning
capital city in the 21st century with the
lessons learnt available for other developing
metropolitan areas in and outside Kenya,"
said Mr Steiner.
Some Elements of City-Wide
Support
Development of an Integrated
Solid Waste Management Strategy: The UN
environment body, in cooperation with others
including UN-Habitat, wants to assist the
city council in up-dating baseline figures-as
a prerequisite for implementing the waste
strategy-on the levels and kinds of wastes
that need to be tackled.
The data is needed in
part to inform the re-location of the 30
acre Dandora dumping site which currently
receives 2,000 tonnes of rubbish every day
to a new 200 acre modern sanitary landfill
site in Ruai.
Dandora has been pin
pointed as a major health hazard for people
living and working nearby and is a key pollution
source into the Nairobi river.
Meanwhile, UNEP is looking
to commit funding and to raise additional
financial support for a master plan for
managing and fast-tracking the Nairobi River
Basin Project.
This will include developing
a vision of how the river fronts of the
City should be planned for optimal recreational
and commercial use without compromising
their environmental integrity.
An estimated 300 points
of direct discharge of sewage, heavy metals,
oils and other pollutants into the Nairobi
and Ngong rivers have been identified. More
points are yet to be documented along the
Mathare and other rivers, but this sampling
alone illustrates the magnitude of the pollution
load released into the river system.
One of these sources
is the Dagoretti Slaughter House that processes
more than 400 animals a day.
Under the initiative wastes will instead
be used to fuel a Biogas power plant, whose
output has been estimated to have the potential
of generating off-grid electricity sufficient
for more than 1,000 homes within the immediate
neighborhoods.
The Project also includes
plans for the rehabilitation of the Nairobi
Dam with the first element being an Environmental
Impact Assessment of the proposed engineering
interventions for the restoration works
UNEP has been providing secretariat support
to the Nairobi Dam Trust, which is spearheading
with others including the private sector
the rehabilitation plans for the Nairobi
Dam into a healthy and economically important
water body.
Notes to Editors
UNEP and UN-Habitat released the City of
Nairobi Environment Outlook on 17 April
2007 which underlined the challenges and
opportunities facing the metropolitan area.
A UNEP-commissioned report "Environmental
Pollution and Impacts on Public Health:
Implications of the Dandora Municipal Dumping
Site in Nairobi, Kenya" was unveiled
on 5 October 2007
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson, Office
of the Executive Director
