INTERGOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE FOR AN
  INTERNATIONAL LEGALLY BINDING INSTRUMENT FOR
  IMPLEMENTING INTERNATIONAL ACTION ON
  CERTAIN PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS

Second session
Nairobi, 25-29 January 1999

Available information on existing programmes of
international financial institutions with regard
to management and elimination of chemicals

Note by the Secretariat

1. At its first session, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee asked the Secretariat to prepare a description of existing programmes providing technical and financial assistance with regard to the management and elimination of chemicals (UNEP/POPS/INC.1/7, para. 62(a)). In response to this request, the Secretariat prepared document UNEP/POPS/INC.2/5. In it reference is made to information collected by the Secretariat on existing multilateral financial assistance programmes for capacity-building to address chemicals management and elimination.

2. On 4 September 1998, the Secretariat sent the environmental units of relevant international financial institutions a request for short descriptions of their existing programmes addressing chemicals management. On the basis of the responses received and other readily available information, such as information on the World Bank Internet home page, http://www.worldbank.org/, the annexed information document was compiled.

Annex

INFORMATION ON EXISTING PROGRAMMES OF INTERNATIONAL
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WITH REGARD TO THE MANAGEMENT
AND ELIMINATION OF CHEMICALS

(a) Regionally based assessment of persistent toxic substances;

(b) Removal of barriers to the application of best management practices and control programmes for pesticides in tropical agriculture;

(c) Improvements in the knowledge base on persistent toxic substances and threats to the aquatic/marine environment;

(d) Pilot country studies;

(e) Targeted demonstration projects for addressing sources of persistent substances.

(a) Project preparation financing for the development of a project proposal on "Removal of barriers to the abatement of global mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining". This proposal, which was developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is expected to be finalized in 1999.

(b) Preparation, by UNDP, of a medium-sized targeted research project entitled "Mitigating the environmental and public health impacts of artisanal mining in malaria-endemic areas in Brazil, Philippines, Tanzania and/or Zimbabwe". It is expected that this project proposal will be submitted to the GEF Targeted Research Committee for evaluation in early 1999.

(c) Project preparation financing for the development by UNEP of a project proposal on "Reducing pesticide run-off to the Caribbean Sea". The project is intended to assist several countries in the Caribbean region (Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama and possibly Honduras) in pursuing management practices and specific measures to control the use of pesticides in the agricultural sector; strengthening national regulatory systems for chemicals trade, use and disposal; and promoting cooperation among participating countries for evaluating and controlling the pesticide load in the Caribbean Sea. The project proposal is expected to be made final in 1999.

(d) Project preparation financing for the development by UNEP of a project proposal on the "Regionally based assessment of persistent toxic substances". The project's aim is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the potential threats posed by persistent toxic substances to the environment and human health in relation to the distances over which such substances are transported. The result should help establish a scientific basis for assigning regionally based priorities for action among persistent chemical contaminants. The full project proposal is expected to be completed in 1999.

(e) Preparation by UNEP of a project proposal on "Pilot country studies". As envisioned in the Outline, this project would collect more detailed information from a number of countries on the production, use and environmental release of and exposure to global contaminants. This information would greatly enhance the regionally based assessment discussed above and help bring about a better understanding of persistent toxic substances at the national and subnational levels.

(f) Preparation by UNEP of a project proposal on "Organic pollutants, food security and indigenous peoples of Arctic Russia", based on a proposal presented by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, the Russian Association of Aboriginal People and the Sami Council. The project would involve inventorying, monitoring and surveillance of actual levels of exposure to persistent organic pollutants experienced by Russian aboriginal people.

(a) A stress-tolerant maize project for West, Central and East Africa, under way since 1990. The project has identified genetic sources of resistance to maize borers and tolerance to low nitrogen and incorporated these traits into improved maize varieties that have since been widely disseminated. The project has resulted in reduced pesticide use, lower dependence on chemical sources of nitrogen and, at the same time, increased production.

(b) An ecologically sustainable cassava plant production project, under way since 1993. This project has succeeded in identifying in Latin America natural enemies to the cassava green mite, which were causing enormous losses in African cassava production, and introducing them as biocontrol agents in Africa. As a result of this initiative, there has been greatly reduced use of pesticides in both Africa and Latin America and significantly increased production.

(c) Development of transgenic tropical maize lines with enhanced levels of insect resistance due to the incorporation of the Bt gene, under way since 1993. This project has succeeded in transferring the Bt gene into a range of tropical lines. Additional testing is required to confirm the stability of the transgenics before the new lines can be transferred to national programmes for field testing.

(e) A "Recycling urban waste for urban and peri-urban agriculture" programme, under way since 1997. This programme began by conducting a review of experience in urban organic waste recycling in both developed and developing countries in order to identify common principles and factors for success. The result was a proposal to proceed to a pilot testing phase in at least three locations. Resources for this phase are currently being mobilized.

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