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Date : 30/08/2006
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Title: Mabudafhasi: Global Environment Facility Third Assembly


  Speech by the Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Third Assembly, Side Event, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and the Africa Stockpiles Programme (ASP)

Program Director
Excellencies
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Let me use this opportunity to extend my gratitude to the GEF Assembly for inviting me to address this gathering on behalf of my government, and I further wish to welcome all delegations present at this meeting.

Firstly I wish to commend the GEF and all ASP partners World Bank, African Development Bank, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), African Union (AU), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Chemicals, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Health Organisation (WHO), other United Nations (UN) agencies, donor governments, national governments in Africa, CropLife International, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Pesticide Action Network, etc for embracing the concept of partnership in this initiative that seeks to co-ordinate the management of POPs and removal of pesticide stockpiles in Africa.

South Africa became a Party to the Stockholm Convention in 2002, and has started the development of the National Implementation Plan (NIP) which will prioritise action plans for the management, reduction and ultimate removal of POPs from the environment. We also signed the Grant Agreement with the World Bank on 4 April 2006 to the tune of US$1,7 million for the ASP project in South Africa.

This is an important milestone for South Africa, of delivering on our promise made in 2002 during the World Summit on Sustainable Development: to reduce the negative impacts of toxic chemicals to human health and the environment by 2020.

While the goals of the NIPs and the ASP are to safely remove POPs and pesticides as well as establishing mechanisms to prevent their accumulation, these goals can only be achieved by developing national and regional capacity to implement the projects, and this is the challenge facing us today.

South Africa is in the process of addressing the root cause of obsolete pesticide stocks accumulation, namely:

* poor pesticide management practices
* reliance on pesticides as “wonder chemicals”
* continuing pressure on farmers to increase production
* pesticide product bans
* illegal trade through porous borders
* strategic purchasing to combat migratory pests
* centralised government purchase.

The removal of obsolete pesticides through the ASP follows previous attempts undertaken by government and the private sector to remove 1 000 tons collected from farmers, industry and the public in 1999 and 2001. While these initiatives attempted to remove obsolete stockpiles and had a national and regional approach, there was no strategy to prevent future accumulation, hence we still have stockpiles.

The current approach through the ASP will also include a strategy to prevent accumulation of stockpiles, pesticide management, and reducing reliance on pesticides by using an Integrated Pest and Vector Management (IPM/IVM) and indigenous knowledge.

The ASP and NIPs will give us an opportunity to strengthen our legal framework for the control and management of these chemicals, build capacity to manage POPs and pesticides safely, identify contaminated sites and reduce their impacts on communities and environment, raise awareness; to participate in research and development and identify safe alternatives to these toxic chemicals.

South Africa will have an opportunity to deal with the legacy of pesticides and its association with poor communities, with its negative impacts on human health and the environment. Poor communities will invariably occupy contaminated sites and may not be aware of the risks they are exposed to. The risks far outweigh issues of food security and the continuing pressure on farmers to increase food production. The issue of contaminated land has a great impact on future land use prospects in African countries, especially for development of human settlements.

The advent of these projects is an opportunity to clear out these toxic chemicals as well as to ensure that the stockpiles do not accumulate again.

I need to congratulate all ASP partners and donors that were involved in initiating the Africa Stockpile Programme and committing to its implementation. For any partnership to succeed, each partner should accept its role and responsibility.

We look forward to seeing each and every African country free of obsolete pesticide stocks. Therefore for those countries in Phase 1 of the ASP implementation (Ethiopia, Mali, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, Tanzania, and Nigeria) we’ll be able to share experiences with the rest of the African countries still to initiate the ASP.

I wish you a fruitful meeting and look forward to sharing the successes with you.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
30 August 2006

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