Milieukontakt International

Pilot remediation of obsolete pesticides sites in Vietnam

Wouter — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:17:02 +0000

As many other developing countries, Vietnam is facing legacy problems with obsolete and POPs pesticides. In the case of Vietnam many of the former storages are emptied in a clean-up campaign and send for destruction to a modern cement kiln. But people have buried the stocks as well in the past because they did not know what to do with them. As a result the pesticides are mixed with soil and it is more difficult to collect and destruct them.

POPs remediation Vietnam

The Dutch Environmental Consultant Tauw implements a UNDP project to write a handbook with guidelines for Obsolete and POPs pesticides remediation based on the practical example of 10 pilot remediation sites.

For this assignment Tauw established in 2011 a consortium of the International HCH and Pesticides Association (IHPA), Milieukontakt International and the independent legal expert Helle Husum. The drafting of the handbook is well underway and pilot remediation has taken place on the first location: under the management of Berto Collet from Tauw a bunker with 25 tonnes of Lindane and DDT was emptied.

Boudewijn Fokke from Tauw is drafting the handbook and uses the extensive experience of John Vijgen from IHPA to review the result. Thus far the handbook contains 7 environmental management plans for the pilot remediation sites. Helle Husum writes a gap analysis of the obsolete and POPs pesticides legislation in Vietnam and Wouter Pronk of Milieukontakt writes guidelines for stakeholder involvement at local level. This in order to make sure that the local people that live close to the sites are well informed before a remediation starts, know how to minimize health risks and avoid mistakes, accidents and protests around the project.

National System: Guidelines for Non-Annex I Parties

Sofiya — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:07:08 +0000

By Pavel Gavrilita, email: pavelg@kth.se

A post-2012 climate agreement may be more complex than the Kyoto Protocol, incorporating a wider range of GHG mitigation actions from a larger number of countries. Decision 1/CP16 defined the conditions for an enhanced action on mitigation by developing country-Parties, or National Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMAs). In accordance with this decision developing countries, consistent with their capabilities and the level of support provided for reporting, should also submit biennial update reports, containing updates of national greenhouse gas inventories including a national inventory report and information on mitigation actions, needs and support received.

The goal of this analytical paper is to identify guidelines for the development/improvement of National System for non-Annex I Parties. The objectives to be achieved are as follows:
(i) identify elements to be considered in designing National System by non-Annex I Parties;
(ii) identify which functions of National System should be performed;
(iii) identify appropriate structures for National System. This study is aiming at providing general guidelines that will facilitate and soften the implementation of national system by non Annex I Parties.

The executive summary of this article and the article itself you can download here:

National System: Summary

National System by Pavel_Gavrilita: full text

Obsolete pesticides legacy problems in Mongolia remain unsolved

Wouter — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:31:09 +0000

Mongolia’s economy is booming. International investments for exploration of the extensive mineral deposits resulted in a growth rate of close to 20 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. But pesticides problems from the past – when the country was a Soviet satellite – remain unsolved.

POPs storage centre in Uvurkhangai province

A mission form Milieukontakt and the International HCH and Pesticides Association (IHPA) to Mongolia in October 2011 revealed that on different locations in the country obsolete stocks of POPs pesticides are stored under substandard conditions. The scale of the problem, however, is difficult to establish without a further research.

During a seminar with Milieukontakt and IHPA and Regional Inspectors from the Plant Protection and Quarantine Department of the Ministry of Agriculture in Ulan Bataar it was agreed that the inspectors would look into the matter in further detail and search for not administered stock of obsolete and POPs pesticides. This in order to get a first indication of the scale and extend of the problems in Mongolia.

Unfortunately the inspectors thus far were not able to provide Milieukontakt and IHPA with further details of amounts of obsolete and POPs pesticides in their home provinces.

It will be important to set up structural cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholders in order to get the facts straight about the scale of the problem in Mongolia and prepare next steps to eliminate the acute risks on human health and the environment stemming from obsolete and POPs pesticides.

A mission report will be available after Milieukontakt and IHPA received comments on the outcomes from the Mongolian Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Milieukontakt and IHPA mission to Mongolia was financed as part of the FAO, Green Cross Switzerland, IHPA and Milieukontakt implemented and GEF-funded project: Capacity building on Obsolete and POPs Pesticides in Eastern European, Caucasus and Central Asian (EECCA) countries.

Environmental movement in Albania in a European context

Jerphaas — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:56:47 +0000

In a new publication Milieukontakt describes lessons learned about building civil society for the environment. The publication is based on more than 20 years experience in this field in over 30 countries. It is published in the framework of the project, ‘Serving Albanian Environmental Civil Society in Environment’ (SACSIE), conducted in Albania from 2007 to 2010.

Environmental movement albania

Green Agenda on the Western Balkans: Final publication

ronald — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:46:52 +0000

In February 2007 the program Green Agenda in The Western Balkans began with the intention to develop Green Agenda processes in at least 12 communities in 6 countries. Nobody knew if this process would work in a region so much affected by recent conflicts. The big question was: Are local citizens in the region capable of cooperation outside their own circle and can they look at the future based on values developed in the past?
Now, 4 years later, a Green Agenda document has been adopted in 16 communities, and 7 more have gone through the process of development of Green Agenda documents. Local citizens have worked together to define values and develop pilot projects within a strategy based on these values. In each country local project managers, platforms, trainers and local working groups have been, and still are, committed to support the development of a true participative democracy of which Green Agenda is one of the most advanced, bottom up, approaches.
Download the handbook here:
Green Agenda on the Western Balkans

Brochure on elimination of risks from obsolete pesticides in Moldova

Sandra — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:38:58 +0000

Milieukontakt is co-author of the recent brochure The Eliminators in Moldova, published within the GEF/FAO project Capacity Building on Obsolete and POPs Pesticides in EasternEuropean Caucasus and Central Asian Countries. The brochure was prepared to serve as an example and inspiration for those who will work or are already working on problems related to obsolete pesticides and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), irrespective whether they work for national or local governments, NGOs, scientific organisations, donors or the private sector.

In the period 2005-2006, Milieukontakt and partners IHPA and Tauw set up a project in the Hincesti rayon in Moldova in order to safeguard 100 tonnes of obsolete pesticides as a pilot project, while simultaneously running public awareness campaigns and securing the involvement of local stakeholders. Milieukontakt has since then executed similar projects in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine and is still actively involved in elimination of risks from obsolete pesticides, most specifically in Eastern European, Caucasus and Central Asian (EECCA) countries.

The brochure has recently been distributed during the 11th Intenational HCH and Pesticides Forum in Azerbaijan. You can download a copy here:

The Eliminators in Moldova-brochure

Cover pages-The Eliminators in Moldova

If you would like to receive a hard-copy, please contact Sandra Molenkamp (at s.molenkamp@milieukontakt.nl). In two months time the brochure will also be available in Russian.

National Conference “Act Now”

ALoffice — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:05:52 +0000

Milieukontakt International –local office Albania organized on 27^th October 2010 National Conference as a closure of National Campaign – Act Now! Representatives from Central Government, Foreign bodies, civil society organizations, media, etc, participated in the meeting. Event was greeted by Mr. Fatmir Mediu, Minister of Environment, Forest and Water Administration, Mrs. Noeke Ruiter from Netherlands Embassy and REC Albania.

Campaign was running for more than one year expanded country wide and involving several stakeholders from central and local government, state institutions, civil society, focusing on water, air, waste and public participation problems and presenting at the same time initiatives undertaken and positive examples for improvement of these issues.

Campaign was characterized by diversity in activities implemented, materials produced, topics dealt and cities/communes involved.
Environmental organizations guaranteed in the Conference their engagement in environment protection, contributing in improvement of the situation in the country as stated in the Declaration below.

Declaration

Results of the interview on sustainable consumption in Belarus

Sofiya — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:04:54 +0000

The results of the interviewing of Belorussian consumers on the issue of sustainable consumption are summarized.
Results are published in the brochure “Sustainable consumption in Belorussian consumers’ perception”(see annex).

Подведены итоги интервьюирования потребителей Беларуси по проблеме устойчивого потребления.
Результаты опубликованы в брошюре «УСТОЙЧИВОЕ ПОТРЕБЛЕНИЕ В ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЯХ ПОТРЕБИТЕЛЕЙ БЕЛАРУСИ» (см. приложение).

Brochure report survey 1 Final

Russian rivers and lakes in search of an IWRM approaches

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:32:18 +0000

In Pskov started the second round of the special IWRM summercourses. The course was attended by 21 representatives from 8 regions. The participants have been working on IWRM methodologies, and direct strategy and action planning for an IWRM approach to deal with a wide range of problems and their opportunities of the waterbodies in their own region.

Participants from the following regions attended the course: Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Perm, Pskov, Saratov, Sakhalin, Khabarovsk, and Chelyabinsk

The two weeks educational program included lectures, practical sessions, and meetings with representatives of local state, NGO, private sector, scientific organizations and mass media.

The innovative aspect of this year was that the admittance of participants did not take place on a personal base, but the regions had to prepare a case study upfront, and provide a team of specialists from multiple stakeholders of that region: in this way the outcome of the action plans has already been composed by them, underlining the “Integrated” approach. The interests of these actors have been discussed, and as such the result is a joint plan, diminishing the risks of conflicts in later stage, and improving the mutual understanding on interests.

Furthermore there have been working excursions to the Peipsi Lake (Chudskoye), Pushkinskie gori, Izborsk and Pechori, where local stakeholders have been interviewed about the way the management plan for these areas have been set up, and how stakeholders and other actors have been involved in the development of these plans.

The course was finished with a plenary presentation of 6 regional action plans, which include SWOT analyses, stakeholder graphs, resource plannings, problem trees and actor analysis diagrams.

We will make the full report of this course available on the website http://www.iwrmru.net

IX national school children contest on basic consumption knowledge, Belarus

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:37:13 +0000

В Беларуси состоялся IX Республиканский конкурс-фестиваль «Основы потребительских знаний», который проводился по нескольким номинациям:
• “Миниолимпиада”. Победителем стала команда ГУО “Гимназия №1 г.Жодино”.
• Команды представили свою “Визитную карточку”, где познакомили жюри и всех участников конкурса со своей командой. Лучшая ”Визитная карточка” у команды из г. Полоцка (УО “Полоцкая государственная общеобразовательная средняя школа № 16).
• В конкурсе “Горячая линия” победила ГУО “Житьковская ОСШ Борисовского района”.
• Домашнее задание “Жизнь взаймы”. Ребята представили свое видение проблем кредитополучателей и кредитодателей. Лучшие домашние задания у команд из г.Бреста (“Центр внешкольной работы”) и г.Минска (ГУО “СОШ № 45”).
Победителем IX Республиканского конкурса-фестиваля “Основы потребительских знаний» стала команда УО “Полоцкая государственная общеобразовательная средняя школа № 16”.
Призерами стали команды ГУО “Житьковская ОСШ Борисовского района” и ГУО “Гимназия № 10 г.Молодечно”.
Участники конкурса были награждены грамотами и дипломами Министерства образования, Министерства торговли, ОО «Белорусское общество защиты потребителей», поощрены специальными дипломами и призами других организаций — спонсоров конкурса, например, ООО «Экобрейн», Филиала № 503 АСБ «Беларусбанк».