Project

Comprehensive Reduction And Elimination Of Persistent Organic Pollutants In Pakistan

Lead country

Pakistan

Participating countries

Pakistan

Project status

Under implementation

Implementing period

From March 20, 2015 to December 31, 2020

SDGs addressed by this project

SDG targets

  1. 12.4 Achieve environmentally sound chemical, waste management
  2. 12.a Build developing country capacity on sustainable consumption, production
  3. 6.3 Reduce water pollution, minimizing hazardous chemical releases

Project ID: 4600

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Technical team

  • Chemicals and Waste Programme

Technical area(s)

  • Persistent organic pollutants
  • Waste management

Sub-area(s)

  • Pesticide
  • PCBs
  • Hazardous_chemical_waste

Landscape(s)

  • Human altered areas

Sub-landscape(s)

  • Rural areas

Transformed sector(s)

  • Agriculture

UNDP role(s)

  • Capacity development / Technical assistance
  • Data collection and analysis
  • Direct support / Service Delivery

Strategy

  • Governance
  • Capacity building
  • Management operation

Sub-strategy

  • Institutional framework
  • Institutional capacity building
  • Wastewater management

Social inclusion

  • Local community/CSOs

Gender equality

N/A

Gender result effectiveness scale

  • Gender responsive

Pathway(s)

  • People pathway
  • Systems pathway
  • Sci-tech pathway

Risk reduction target(s)

  • Hazard control/mitigation

SDG target(s)

  • 12.4 Achieve environmentally sound chemical, waste management
  • 12.a Build developing country capacity on sustainable consumption, production
  • 6.3 Reduce water pollution, minimizing hazardous chemical releases

Conventions and protocols

  • Stockholm Convention (POPs)

Private sector(s)

  • Small and medium-sized enterprises

Hot topic

  • Food and agricultural commodities strategy

About this project

Description

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are chemical substances that persist in the environment, can be transported by wind and water, bio-accumulate and pass through the food chain, causing adverse effects to human health and the environment. Pakistan signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) on 6 December 2001 and ratified the Convention on 14 April 2008. The National Implementation Plan (NIP), submitted on 16 July 2010, provides a policy framework, which lays out the priorities for addressing the specific issues of POPs pesticides and PCBs in Pakistan. To support Pakistan in meeting its obligations under the Stockholm Convention, the NIP priorities that were selected by the GEF UNDP project to be addressed are: i) The development and implementation of a regulatory, policy and enforcement system to reduce POPs releases and to regulate POPs waste disposal; ii) Capacity building to reduce exposure to and releases of POPs; iii) Collection, transport and disposal of 300t of PCB and 1200t of POPs/Obsolete pesticides. The elimination of POPs pesticides stockpiles became even more urgent after the 2010 floods which damaged some of the storage sites of hazardous chemicals and pesticides. To ensure environmentally sound disposal of POPs, as part of the project a national disposal/treatment facility is to be upgraded, assessed, tested and operated in compliance with the Stockholm Convention's BAT/BEP. In the situation that assessments undertaken by the project indicate that disposal at national level will not be technically or economically feasible, the project will support collection, packaging and transportation of POPs waste to a licensed facility abroad, for their environmentally and safe treatment and disposal. Based on the inventory survey conducted during the NIP preparation, there are approximately 6,033 MT of obsolete stocks of POPs pesticides (3,800 MT in Punjab, 2,016 MT in Sindh, 48 MT in KPK, 135 MT in Balochistan, 31.5 MT in AJK and 0.5 MT in Northern areas). Large stocks of obsolete pesticides are situated in areas of intensive cash crops/ agricultural activities. Objectives of this project are reducing human health and environmental risks by enhancing management capacities and disposal of POPs in Pakistan through: i) the development and implementation of a regulatory, policy and enforcement system to reduce POPs releases and to regulate POPs waste disposal; ii) capacity building to reduce exposure to and releases of POPs; iii) collection, transport and disposal of 300 MTof PCB and 1,200 MT of POPs pesticides.

Objectives

Reducing human health and environmental risks by enhancing management capacities and disposal of POPs in Pakistan.

USD $5,225,000

Grant amount

USD $34,354,422

Leveraged amount (co-financing)

1

Source(s) of fund

Sources of fund

 

  • Global Environment Facility – Trust Fund ($5,225,000)

Implementing partner(s)

  • Ministry of Climate Change

Related resources

Geospatial information

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Project reports and documentation