The Africa Stockpiles Programme

What is it?
The Africa Stockpiles Programme (ASP) was initiated in 2000 by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) among others, and is now a multi-stakeholder partnership involving African country governments, international agencies, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and regional bodies.

History
The ASP initiative is built on the global commitment under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs, which aims to eliminate the production and use of these chemicals worldwide. While most POPs pesticides are no longer produced, accumulated stocks have been left in unsecured or open stores, where they leak into the environment and are causing health and environmental damage. Alarmed by the dangers posed to Africa, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), began preparing inventories of them in the 1980s. After documenting that at least 50,000 tonnes exist, the FAO sought funds for a clean up.

Objectives

Clean up stockpiled pesticides and pesticide-contaminated waste, and in some cases contaminated soil, in Africa and dispose of these in an environmentally sound manner
Raise awareness of the dangers of obsolete pesticides and the importance of good supply managementl Catalyse development of prevention measures
Provide capacity building and institutional strengthening on important chemical issues.

Who is involved?
The partnership brings together

Country governments — usually the agriculture or environment ministries.
Global Environment Facility — contributes under a ‘window’ for eliminating POPs
World Bank l UN bodies (FAO with input from UNIDO, UNITAR, WHO, UNDP and UNEP)
Donors — governments including the European Union, Canada, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and other funders such as the African Development Bank
Africa-wide bodies, African Union, NEPAD, UN Economic Commission for Africa
NGOs — PAN and WWF are involved at the programme level. National NGOs will be stakeholders in their country projects
Industry — industry has not yet contributed to the common fund for Phase 1 but may provide technical support

How will it work?
A Project Management Unit in each country carry out the bulk of the work. The World Bank will provide programme level coordination and manage the funds (Project Coordination Unit). The FAO will provide the specialist Technical Support Unit. WWF and PAN will provide support and services relating to issues that apply in all countries – ASP-level communications, knowledge management, research, capacity building for national NGOs, and prevention strategies.

When will it happen?
At the time of print, the ASP has been approved by the GEF board and is going to the World Bank board for final approval in September 2005. Once this is formally approved, funds will be released to individual countries as and when they complete their negotiations with the World Bank.
The whole ASP will be implemented as a rolling programme, predicted to last 15 years. Funding and project management is being developed in phases, each phase including a limited number of countries. Phase 1 is a four year programme which will conduct the full range of activities in six countries, along with preparation and prevention measures (but not including disposal of stocks) in a further nine countries. Future phases will be developed drawing on experiences and lessons learnt during Phase 1, but will not need official GEF and World Bank approval to begin.

What countries are included?
Phase 1 countries with full prevention and disposal activities are: Ethiopia, Mali, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia. Phase 1 countries with partial activities (not including actual centralisation and disposal of stocks) are: Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria and Swaziland. The entire continent of Africa will eventually be included in subsequent phases of the ASP.

How much will it cost?
Obsolete pesticides cost around $3,500 per tonne to remove and destroy. Based on existing (likely underestimated) inventory data, the total cost of disposing of all 50,000 tonnes of product will cost around $175-200m. Prevention measures are as important as disposal, and are estimated at around $50-75m, bringing the estimated total cost to over $250m. Phase 1 will cost $60m, of which $25m has been provided by GEF.