CARIBBEAN/ANTIGUA: Ministry of Tourism announces Inception Workshop for POPs

Ministry of Tourism announces Inception Workshop for POPs
 
Thursday August 14 2003
 
The Ministry of Tourism & Environment has announced the inception workshop 
for the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) enabling activity for Antigua & 
Barbuda.

The aim of the workshop is to provide government agencies, NGOs and the 
private sector with information related to POPs use and the steps being taken 
to ensure the proper management of such chemicals to meet both national and 
international requirements as set out in the Stockholm Convention on 
Persistent Organic Pollutants.

The meeting will be on the 18 and 19 Aug at the Copper and Lumber Store in 
the historic Nelson's Dockyard. 

The Stockholm Convention on (POPs) is a global, legally binding instrument 
designed to reduce the risks to human health and the environment from the 
release of 12 organic chemicals into the environment.

These 12 chemicals are considered the most serious examples of what are now 
commonly known as Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs. These are toxic 
organic chemicals that resist degradation and travel easily through air 
currents, water and the food chain.

They tend to accumulate in fatty tissues of organisms at the end of food 
chains, known as bioaccumulation and pose a particular danger to children and 
pregnant women, especially in developing countries, which typically lack the 
technical or financial means to monitor their presence or to dispose of them 
safely.

These chemicals can travel long distances via air or water from their origin. 
They can cause cancer, malformation of embryos and disrupt the functioning of 
the endocrine system those who are exposed become more susceptible to disease 
or infection.

Once released, POPs can stay around in the environment for up to hundreds of 
years, such is their resistance to chemicals or bacterial breakdown.

As a signatory to the Stockholm Convention on POPs, Antigua & Barbuda is 
obligated to prepare a national implementation plan (NIP) that will guide the 
country's management of these chemicals.

The country is also required to provide annual reports of the efforts in this 
regard. To this end, Antigua & Barbuda has received technical and financial 
assistance from the Global Environment Facility via the UNEP with the 
Environment Division at the national executing agency.

A technical advisory committee chaired jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture 
and the Central Board of Health assists the Environment Division in the 
execution of this project.

Participants will include government agencies that are involved in chemicals 
management, educational institutions, private sector, pesticide importers and 
producers.

Interested persons are ask to contact Nalda Prince 562-2568, or email 
environment@antiguabarbuda.net the Environment Division to register their 
names, the agency/business they represent and the contact information.

Registration ends 15 August. 
 

SOURCE: Antigua Sun