ENABLING ACTIVITIES FOR JAMAICA TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT THE NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS CONVENTION

In 2001 Jamaica signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). It is  an international treaty aimed at restricting and ultimately eliminating production, use, release and storage of POPs which pose significant threat to human health and the environment. The Convention entered into force on May 17, 2004.

The first 12 POPs targeted under the Convention are:

• pesticides (aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex, toxaphene)
• dioxins & furans - produced due to incomplete combustion and during the manufacture of some chemicals and industrial processes that usually involve chlorine containing chemicals
• hexachlorobenzene (HCB)- released as a by-product from processes that give rise to dioxins and furans
• polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - used as heat exchange fluids in electric transformers & capacitors, as additives in paint, carbonless copy paper, sealants & plastics

In order to fulfill its obligations under the Convention, Jamaica must achieve the following objectives (1) institute measures to reduce or eliminate the use or release of POPs (2) ban the importation of PCBs and PCB containing equipment (3) manage and control the formation of unintentional by- product POPs (4) meet the reporting requirements under the Convention

To achieve the objectives thus enabling Jamaica to ratify the Convention, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) provided funding to design and implement a National Implementation Plan (NIP) under the Project 'Enabling Activities for Jamaica to Develop and Implement the NIP for the POPs Convention'.

The 24 months Project which was executed by the NEPA began in July 2003 and ended in June 2005. GEF's implementing agency was the United Nations Development Programme. A Project Co-ordinator as well as International and National Consultants were contracted to work on the Project. A Project Steering Committee was established to oversee the implementation of the Project. Activities under the Project included meetings with PCBs, pesticides and dioxins and furans stakeholders, sampling and analyses of possible PCB contaminated sites, a report on the POPs inventory and other reports from the Consultants on various POPs related issues.  

Potential POPs sources in Jamaica identified under the project were:

• PCBs

ü          Electrical equipment (transformers, capacitors, ballasts) that contain PCB fluids or PCB contaminated fluids

ü          Disposal sites or other sites contaminated with PCB contaminated oils

• POPs Pesticides

ü         Old stocks of POPs pesticides

• Dioxins, furans and HCB

ü         Combustion sources

• Incinerators, crematoria
• Trash burning (household, yard wastes, garbage, tyres etc.)
• Motor vehicles (gasoline, diesel)
• Cigarette smoke
• Kilns, boilers, furnaces
• Other sources

ü         Reservoir (soils, sediments, biota, materials)

The NIP was developed and endorsed by stakeholders. It gives actions, lead & other agencies, success indicators, basis for cost estimates and cost estimates for POPs management.

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