The World Bank said on Monday it had given the go ahead for two
schemes to assist China phase out three persistent organic
pollutants (POPs) with US$32.7 million in grants from the Global
Environment Fund.
The Chinese government has taken rapid action to eliminate key
POPs which are scheduled to be completely eliminated worldwide due
to their impact on human health and the environment, the bank said
in a statement.
They said POPs were a major environmental concern as they were
responsible for causing neurological damage, immune system
disorders, cancer and a range 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 has completed preparations
for the first two projects to eliminate POPs and secured
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 used in electrical equipment and cause widespread
contamination of their storage sites. The project would demonstrate
environmentally sound policies and cost-effective way of safely
disposing of PCBs, the waste and decontaminating PCB sites, it
said.
The total cost of the project would exceed US$35 million of
which more than half is being funded by China and US$2.02 million
will come from 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 use of two highly toxic
pesticides.
As the first project of its kind by the World Bank 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. 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.
(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2006)