UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Government

Name of Ministry/Agency:	AusAID

Country:	Australia

Name of Focal Point:	Susan MacDonald

Initiative Title:	Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Pacific

Internet links:	http://www.ausaid.gov.au/country/cbrief.cfm?DCon=5711_808_5883_4348_6746&CountryID=33691914&Region=SouthPacific http://www.ghd.com.au http://www.chem.unep.ch/pops

Scope:	Global

Status:	Ongoing

Timeframe:	Start: October 1999 End:

Stakeholders/Partners:	AusAID worked with the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) to determine Pacific island member countries’ priorities for waste management. SPREP undertook initial investigatory work on the scale of the problem and subsequently worked with the contractors engaged by AusAID to implement the project. Environment ministries in the participating countries have been partnered by Australian Government counterparts to negotiate the permitting requirements for moving hazardous waste between countries. State and local government agencies have oversighted the safe transport and destruction of Pacific persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Australia.

Relevent issues:

Objectives/Challenges:

To dispose of stockpiled POPs, including agricultural pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from old electrical transformers in 12 Pacific island countries: Fiji, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Lessons Learned:

Clear, rigorous management protocols (in accordance with national and international regulations) ensured the managing contractor kept physical risks as low as practicable. Political and weather risks were initially underestimated, but flexible contracting allowed them to be managed without incident.

A wide range of stakeholders’ inputs and some serious initial concerns were addressed through the project’s communications strategy, developed before project implementation began. The strategy was used actively to inform stakeholders (included multiple Australian and Pacific government agencies at national and local levels, SPREP and affected communities in the Pacific partner countries and in Australia) throughout the term of the project.

Policy Options:

Most Pacific island countries are densely populated small island states and lack the specialised resources or capacity needed for treatment and disposal of persistent hazardous chemicals. Lack of awareness of the dangers the POPs present has contributed to their unsafe storage, leading to human exposure and environmental contamination.

Pacific islands rely heavily on the quality of their environment for survival. Many local industries are dependent on a clean environment: fishing, agriculture, pearl industries and tourism. The removal of POPs is important to the livelihoods and health of people in the Pacific Islands.

In the mid 1990s, Pacific Island members of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) undertook an assessment of their waste management needs and agreed that the removal of POPs was a very high priority.

Since 1999 the Australian Government has contributed $7.5 million to this objective. Australian assistance began with a thorough inventory of all unused POPs that could be located in the partner countries and the development of a plan for their collection and transport to Australia.

About 120 tonnes of waste POPs have now been brought back to Australia for destruction in a state-of-the-art treatment facility, in a process designed by the Commonwealth Science and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO). The process uses physico-chemical measures operating under high temperatures and pressures. The POPs molecules are blown apart and allowed to recombine as carbon dioxide, sodium chloride (common salt) and water. The facility is also treating similar chemicals from within Australia.

The project has been undertaken with strict safety requirements for packaging, shipping, road transport and destruction. It is regulated by various state, national and international regulations.

Summary:

About 120 tonnes of stockpiled POPs and PCB-contaminated transformers have been removed from Pacific islands and safely destroyed in Australia.

At many sites, the collection of POPs has significantly improved the immediate environment for local communities by removing chemicals which could have leached into food gardens and places where children play.

Awareness of the dangers of POPs contamination has been raised in Pacific governments, although not all had staff available to participate effectively in the project and to absorb additional training.