Over the past 40 years Kenya has had one of the most rapid population growths in the world currently standing at around 2.5% per year1. The pressure for higher food production along with specific economic activities has led to increased chemical use in agriculture. Pesticides now constitute the largest proportion of chemical pollutants in the country. Stockholm conventionBy the 1970s and 1980s Kenya’s use of the pesticides listed in the Stockholm Convention as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) was extensive. Various studies carried out in Kenya have confirmed the presence of POPs contaminating the environment. Kenya became a party to the Convention on 23 December 2004. Kenya’s POPs stockpiles

Although there is no reliable data on overall quantities of POPs, Kenya’s National Inventory draft report (2004) identifies contaminated sites in various parts of the country with most of the contaminating POPs being pesticides. Information from the Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) indicates there were no official records of POPs-listed pesticides being imported between 2001 and 2004. However, even though most of these chemicals are now banned or restricted and according to official records are no longer used, stockpiles still exist. The presence of POPs chemicals in Kenya, much of which are already dispersed into the environment, presents a number of challenges:

International POPs Elimination Project
On 1 May 2004 the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) began a global NGO project called the International POPs Elimination Project (IPEP) in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and funded by the Global Environment Facility. Its aims are to build NGO capacity to implement the Stockholm Convention, and to ensure long-term chemical safety within the countries.Hotspot in Kitengela

As part of an IPEP hotspots initiative the Kenyan non-governmental organisation (NGO) ENVILEAD (Environmental Liaison, Education and Action for Development) carried out a study of the Kitengela pesticides store in Kenya. This pesticide store is located in the Kitengela area of Kajiado District in Kenya’s Rift Valley province approximately 27 kilometres south of Nairobi. It is used by the Ministry of Agriculture as a temporary storage facility for obsolete pesticides and other chemicals prior to their disposal. The aim of the ENVILEAD project was to establish whether the Kitengela site was contaminated with POPs pesticides and other toxic waste, to identify the types, quantities and sources of POPs, to determine the site history and environmental characteristics, to examine affects on the local community, their awareness of its dangers, and to explore possibilities for cleaning up the site.

The ENVILEAD study involved carrying out site visits, interviewing stakeholders, taking photographic records, making visual observations, doing library searches and taking samples for basic laboratory analysis. Secondary data were obtained from published and unpublished sources. The study was a preliminary investigation intended to open the way for further detailed investigation. Stakeholders approached about the study included members of the local community, health care professionals, the National Environment Management Authority, the PCPB, the Plant Protection Services Branch, government chemists, Soil Survey of Kenya, Agrochemicals Association of Kenya (AAK) and the Kenya Institute of Waste Management.

The Kitengela store
The study was conducted within the area around the pesticide store and Kitengela town, an area covering approximately three square kilometers. The Kitengela store covers 21,000 square feet and was built in 1967 by the Ministry of Agriculture. The sides are made of wood and corrugated iron and the roof is of corrugated iron. The site was selected because the land had little economic value. The area receives insufficient rainfall and local communities depend on underground water reserves. Historically, it was inhabited by the semi-nomadic pastoralist Maasai and was communally owned. However, an individual land tenure system is now in operation. The land around the store is used for sheep and goat breeding. The store was used by the Desert Locust Control Organisation, part of the Ministry of Agriculture, for storing pesticides for locust and mosquito control. With time it began storing obsolete pesticides and other toxic waste collected from coffee cooperative societies, flower farms and Kenya Farmers Association stores from all over the country. Initially constructed as a temporary facility in 1967, by the year 2000 it was handling many more chemicals than it had been designed for, some of which were leaking into the ground. Information obtained from the AAK indicates that the store contained aldrin, dieldrin, endrin and furadan (a seed treatment whose active ingredient is carbofuran). In addition, it stored carbamates for malaria vector control along with endosulfan and some fungicides.

Unsafe disposal of pesticides
A decision was made in 2000 to destroy the unmanageable stockpiles and renovate the store. The AAK undertook to clean the site up and hired the services of Dr. Phillip Mwabe, an engineering lecturer at the University of Nairobi as a consultant. According to an interview, Dr. Mwabe, through his organisation, the Kenya Institute of Waste Management (KIWM), recommended dilution of the chemicals. Although there is some uncertainty over the fate of the pesticides, a resource person at KIWM indicated that 188 tonnes of stored pesticides were diluted with 6,000 tonnes of dilutants and the mixture sold to pineapple farms and pesticide manufacturing firms to be reused as pesticide. The drums containing chemicals were apparently smelted down by Environmental and Combustion Consultants Limited (ECC) and made into welding bars. However, other evidence suggests it was incinerated at KIWM. Either way it is clear that the intention was to get rid of the problematic stockpiles with almost total disregard for the environment.

Current condition of store
The Plant Protection Services Branch (PPSB) of the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the site and has two in-house trained personnel to run it. At present obsolete POPs and other toxic wastes are temporarily stored at the site before being incinerated by KIWM. The store, currently in poor condition, does not meet the basic requirements for a chemical store outlined by the international trade association Croplife International or the International Organisation for Standardization. It is currently almost empty containing only about 40 drums of contaminated soil and some chemicals for desert locust control such as Quelotox and fenthion. From its construction in 1967 to 2000 it had a dirt floor. This was cemented in 2000 but the condition of the cement floor has deteriorated and no longer offers much protection to the surrounding land from chemical spills. The store is open to the outside and does not protect chemicals from ambient temperatures which reach up to 34oC, so exposing the chemicals to further deterioration.

Despite the oversight by two PPSB staff, management of the store is far from ideal. Different chemicals lie next to each other increasing chances of cross-contamination. Many containers lack distinct labels and there appears to be no documentation tracking chemicals entering and leaving the store. In addition, the facility lacks proper signs to warn the public about the content of the store and the dangers associated with them.The facility at Kitengela is currently the only one available in Kenya for storing obsolete pesticides and the Ministry of Agriculture is concerned that it lacks the capacity to handle the volume of chemicals that exist in the country. Two similar stores in the Wajir and Mandera Districts in North Eastern Province in Kenya are currently not in operation.

Contamination of the site
The lack of a cement floor until the year 2000 would have allowed any spilled chemicals to seep into soils and eventually into groundwater. In addition, the sides of the store are open above shoulder-level potentially allowing winds to carry chemical dust to the surrounding area. Consultants at KIWM have found residues of pesticides in soil seven feet below the site (the deepest they were able to excavate to) and in a one kilometer range around the site. It is estimated that 400 tonnes of soil around the site is contaminated. A seasonal river passes about 50 meters from the store and is used by livestock belonging to the local Maasai community and by the Ministry of Agriculture’s goat-breeding project. It is not known what level of contamination is found in this water.

Disposal standards in question
There are concerns about the standards of disposal carried out by KIWM. The condition of the KIWM incinerator, such as its operating temperature and administrative procedures, is unknown and KIWM did not allow a site visit by the ENVILEAD team. Disposal of POPs-listed chemicals using techniques likely to create additional hazardous substances is discouraged by the Stockholm Convention. Incineration of POPs can cause formation of the potent carcinogen dioxin and, although this can be minimised by incinerating at extremely high temperatures, it is very unlikely that such high temperatures are maintained at the KIWM facility. In addition, chemicals were found dumped in bushes less then a kilometer from the site with 14 cows subsequently reported dead, an issue that landed KIWM in court in October 2001.Problems for the local community

The chemicals at the site have a pungent smell which can be detected for about 500m around the store. Members of the local community have also noticed skin and respiratory irritation potentially related to the chemicals. Local farmers have informally purchased chemicals at low cost from the store and one local farmer is known to have sprayed his livestock with the chemicals resulting in several of his animals dying. The local community was unaware of the health hazards associated with the stored pesticides and was also unaware that they could potentially contaminate their environment and food.

Role of the government
The problem in Kenya is not due to lack of legislation but rather a lack of resources enabling PCPB and other bodies to enforce the law. The ENVILEAD study team found that despite initial concerns government officials were willing to provide information and assist in other ways. This was especially true of the office of the National POPs Coordinator within the National Environment Management Authority. The government was more receptive and willing to collaborate with NGOs than is commonly believed.

Key challenges
Implementation of the Stockholm Convention provides a framework and finanical support to help countries deal with the problem of stockpiles of POPs chemicals. Implementation in Kenya faces three major challenges.

Lack of sufficient information
According to the National POPs inventory 30% of suspected POPs hotspots in Kenya have not yet been visited to assess their status. Many of those visited have only had preliminary surveys carried out which are insufficiently detailed for planning purposes. Lack of sufficient resources Cleaning up polluted sites requires considerable financial and technical resources. For example, in one operation, treatment of hazardous waste, such as PCBs, cost up to US$3000 per tonne2. As Kenya is a party to the Stockholm Convention it has access to funds from the Global Environment Facility. However, stockpiles of POPs need to be carefully identified and inventoried to assess exactly what work needs to be carried out.

Lack of public awareness
Efforts are needed to ensure the Kenyan people understand how contamination from obsolete POPs can affect their lives. In Nigeria, concern over dumped PCB-contaminated waste led the government to request around 30,000 farmers to stop harvesting their crops to prevent consumption of contaminated food. The European Union banned imports of fish from the Lake Victoria region between 1998 and 2000 due to concern about chemical contamination in the lake and this affected the economy of three East African States3. Public awareness of such issues will increase pressure on institutions to ensure stores of obsolete pesticides are safely destroyed.

Conclusions
Due to their persistence, stockpiles of POPs cannot be ignored. Strategies are needed to identify all existing POPs hotspots, to build safe storage facilities, and to establish environmentally sound disposal methods for such chemicals. While the ban on these chemicals appears to be working, effective monitoring strategies should be developed to ensure they are not brought in or used illegally. Disposal technologies which do not generate dioxins should be developed and used. In addition, alternatives to DDT for malaria vector control need to be developed. Creating awareness amongst the general public will be the best insurance against generation of future hotspots.

References
1. World Fact Book http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
2. Hilz, C., The Internatioal Toxic Waste Trade, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1992.
3. Kenya National Inventory of Persistent Organic Pollutants, 2004.

Rachel Wambui Kamande, PSR-Kenya, PO Box 14845-00100, Nairobi, Kenya. rachel_kamande@yahoo.com