South Africa has an estimated 250 tons of obsolete pesticides within its borders, with more unaccounted for either in buried containers or scattered across its agricultural land.
The reasons for the accumulation of stockpiles in developing countries vary, but include aggressive sales practices by the pesticide industry, poor import controls, inadequate stock management and inappropriate procurement and central purchasing policies.
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi says this is a “global environmental tragedy” that is most dramatic in the developing world where vulnerable workers in the agricultural sector are most at risk.
The World Wildlife Fund is spearheading the Africa Stockpiles Programme (ASP), a comprehensive project that aims to rid the continent of these hazardous stocks and prevent further build up. South Africa is a signatory to the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty to minimise the emissions of persistent organic pollutants (Pops), which it ratified two years ago.
The ASP grew out of informal discussions at the final negotiating session of the Stockholm Pops Convention in Johannesburg December 2000. It has gone on to include NGOs, intergovernmental organisations and chemical industry representatives. The project, in its entirety, will last between 12 and 15 years, at a cost of about R1,5-billion, funded by the World Bank. South Africa is to receive R11-million to start the first phase, which is expected to last three to four years, and will include inventory updating, safeguarding and repacking of pesticides and central storage for final disposal.
Pesticides are classified as obsolete when they have exceeded their shelf life, which is about two years.
Unless properly disposed of, they can contaminate food, water, soil and air. If they are not destroyed correctly — being incinerated at temperatures exceeding 900°C — they release Pops.
Of 12 Pops outlawed by the Convention, nine are common pesticides.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, which is helping to compile inventory data for the project, said exact figures of pesticide stocks in Africa were not yet established,and would depend on input from the private sector, specifically manufacturers and distributors of pesticides.
Angela Mwandia of the World Wildlife Fund said that South Africa, Nigeria, Mali, Tunisia, Morocco, Ethiopia and Tanzania were chosen to be part of the first phase of the ASP because of the significant scale of their stockpiles problem and because they had ratified the Stockholm Convention, a prerequisite to participation.
At an ASP briefing held in Nairobi earlier this year, it was announced that the South African component of the project would commence in October. But funding from the World Bank has been delayed, because South Africa has not yet completed its operational manual, a prerequisite for receiving the funds.
Thembisile Khumalo, of the directorate of pollution and waste management at the environmental affairs department, said that the operational manual could only be completed once they started work on the project in order to deal with situations that arose in the field. She said the World Bank was now satisfied with the basic requirements and funding was expected from next month.
“The document must be correct before we start work,” reiterated the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Kevin Helps, who is advising the government on the initiative’s technical aspects.
“We have had to invest proper planning to assist the country to implement the project safely.” Helps said the project had not been delayed as such, as preparation was part and parcel of the first phase. “With preparation we are implementing the ASP because we are contacting stakeholders and preparing them so that when the programme is launched we have sensitised them already.”
Chief among these participants are farmers and pesticide manufacturers.
Although civil society groups have been the driving force in creating awareness about the ASP and putting pressure on the government to adhere to the Stockholm Convention, regarding the disposal of hazardous waste, they seem to have been left out in the cold so far as funding for the project is concerned.
The World Wildlife Fund has said that NGOs must seek their own sources of funding in order to build capacity and hold awareness-raising initiatives.
Llewellyn Leonard, of environmental NGO groundWork, says that it has the capacity to assist with training, but that the programme will not be effective without funds.
Leonard said that groundWork had always used its own resources in awareness-raising initiatives, but other smaller NGOs would need more support.