The World Bank said on Monday that it had approved two projects
to help China phase out three persistent organic pollutants (POP)
with US$32.7 million in grants from the Global Environment
Fund.
The Chinese government had taken rapid action to eliminate key
POPs targeted for elimination worldwide due to their impacts on
human health and the environment, the bank said in a statement.
The bank said POPs were a major environmental concern as they
were responsible for causing neurological damage, immune system
disorders, cancer and a host of other health problems.
"POPs persist in the environment for many years, travel long
distances and accumulate in the food chain, causing harm not only
where they are produced and used, but globally," said the bank.
In the last six months, the government had completed
preparations for the first two POPs elimination projects and
secured for their implementation GEF grants of US$32.7 million.
The first project, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Management
and Disposal Demonstration Project, was approved by the World Bank
board of executive directors in December last year as a pilot
policy with institutional and disposal measures to eliminate PCBs
in Zhejiang Province, east China.
PCBs are broadly used in electrical equipment and cause
widespread contamination of their storage sites. The project would
demonstrate environmentally sound policies, and cost-effective
approaches for safely disposing of PCBs, PCB waste and
decontaminating PCB sites, it said.
The total cost of the project would exceed US$35 million, of
which more than half was funded by China, and US$2.02 million is
funded by Japan, Italy and the United States.
The second project, the Demonstration of Alternatives to
Chlordane and Mirex in Termite Control Project, was approved by the
World Bank last week to eliminate the use of two highly toxic
pesticides.
The first project of its kind in the World Bank or GEF
portfolio, it would help China phase out use of 15,000 kilograms of
chlordane and mirex, close its largest manufacturing facility, and
adopt modern termite control methods based on integrated pest
management.
The project would cost US$27.7 million, approximately half of
which would be funded by China.
The projects form the foundation of the China POPs program to
implement the Stockholm Convention.
Helen Chan, the World Bank coordinator for the POPs program in
the East Asia and Pacific Region, said the projects broke new
ground in testing institutional approaches and demonstrating
technologies.
"They will generate useful lessons for the complete elimination
of PCBs, chlordane and mirex not only in China, but in all other
Stockholm Convention countries facing similar challenges," said
Chan.
The Chinese government is also finalizing a national
implementation plan to phase out all 12 POPs targeted for
elimination under the Stockholm Convention.
The convention entered into force in May 2004 and has 151
signatory countries.
(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2006)
