Project

Eliminating Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) through Sound Management of Chemicals

06 Nov 2020

The project aims is to reduce the risks of  Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) on human health and the environment through strengthening institutional capacity and the policy and
the regulatory framework for the sound management and disposal of chemicals, POPs and wastes, and developing sustainable systems for the sound collection, labelling, storage, and disposal of hazardous chemicals and waste.

Hazardous Chemicals
What are POPs
Characteristics of POPs
Bio Accumulation
Affects of POPs 1
Affects of POPs 2
What is the World Doing About POPs
Chemical Handling
How to Read a Chemical Safety Label
Where Can You Find POPs

Project Timeline

22 Nov 2021

Eliminating POPs Project field visit to Fuvahmulah and Addu City

14 Aug 2021

Contract signed with Charter Engineering Company Private Limited for Designing an Interim hazardous waste storage facility in Addu City

The objective of this consultancy is to prepare detailed drawing set for the interim hazardous chemicals and waste storage facility planned to be established in Addu City.

17 Jul 2023

Stakeholder meetings to collect information to develop the overarching chemicals management bill

The initial round of stakeholder meetings were conducted with all key stakeholders to get information on current legislations and procedures in place for management of chemicals. The challenges associated with chemicals management were also identified so that they may be addresses in the draft bill

12 Jul 2021

Contract signed with International Consultant, Dr. Andrea Volpato to support the development of the Overarching Chemicals Management Act

The main objective of this international consultancy was to provide technical guidance to the legal firm and the Project Management Unit in developing the legislative framework for the environmentally sound management of chemicals in the Maldives.

06 Jun 2021

Contract signed with Chopart Pvt. Ltd for the development of awareness material on sound management of chemicals

The objective of this consultancy is to develop communications/awareness raising materials on sound management of chemicals, targeting policy makers, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), private sector entities managing hazardous wastes and recyclers, civil society organizations and the general public. This include materials on all related work carried out through the project including capturing, documenting, designing and developing of materials for information and data collected, progress of project activities and reporting in a results-based and timely manner for the Government, Donors, and Project Implementation partner purposes.

06 Jun 2021

Contract signed with Fitchner GmbH & Co.KG (in association with Renewable Energy Maldives Pvt. Ltd) to conduct a Feasibility Study for Hazardous waste interim storage system in Thilafushi

The feasibility study aims at exploring the possibility of establishment and sustainable operation of a central interim storage covering handling, separation, collection, packaging, labelling, transportation and storage of hazardous waste and chemicals.

06 Jun 2021

Contract signed with Azur Chambers LLP to draft the Overarching Chemicals Management Bill

The main objective of this consultancy was to develop a legislative framework for the environmentally sound management of chemicals and ensure that chemicals management aspects especially POPs are properly addressed and sufficiently defined in the regulation, including provisions for the life cycle chemicals management.

04 Jun 2021

MoU Between MECCT and MoD to uprade Makudi Portal

The main objective of this activity is to provide hardware and software support for upgrading the current Makudi Portal established at MoD; this MOU is concerned with the hardware support part of this activity

23 May 2021

Training on sample collection for FENAKA staff from Addu City and Fuvahmulah City

Online trainings were conducted for FENAKA staff on standard procedure to follow when collecting soil samples for testing.

28 Apr 2021

Collection of soil samples from K. Thilafushi for analysis

Soil samples were collected from 3 areas in K. Thilafushi to test for level of PCB and other hazardous substances in the soil. The samples were analysed from a Turkish Laboratory and the findings were shared with senior officials of the Ministry.

27 Jan 2021

PMU trip to Addu and Fuvahmulah City

The purpose of this trip was to identify potentially PCB contaminated equipment. The PMU met with officials from Fuvahmulah city council and staff from FENAKA Hithadhoo branch to share information on the work carried out under the project.

08 Dec 2020

First Project Steering Committee Meeting

The meeting was opened by the chair Dr Abdulla Naseer. In his welcoming remarks, Dr Naseer noted the adverse effects of POPs on human health, wildlife and the environment and the importance of their sound management.

Ms Akiko Fujii, in her opening remarks underlined the issue in global context. Having worked in seven different countries in the past 20 years, she pointed out that all of them had challenges in the sound management of chemicals. She further stressed that POPs are highly persistent compounds that pose carcinogenic risks on human health and detrimental effects on the environment. She also mentioned that chemicals and waste management is intricately linked with several SDG goals such as SDG 3 on health, SDG 6 on sanitation, SDG 12 on sustainable production and responsible consumption, etc.

During this meeting, the committee members were introduced to the project activities and responsibilities of the PSC. The project workplan for the year 2020 and 2021 was then presented and approved by the PSC.

04 Nov 2020

Project Inception Workshop

The workshop was attended by 26 participants, representing different ministries and government agencies relevant to the project. Welcoming remarks were delivered by Ms. Vera Hakim, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Maldives, followed by opening remarks by Dr Abdulla Naseer, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment.

In her welcoming remarks, Ms. Vera Hakim said that the sound management of chemicals and their wastes was not only a pressing environmental concern for the Maldives, but also stressed that it is one of the greatest developmental challenges faced globally. She added that the United Nations Development Programme promotes the sound management of chemicals as an important aspect of its work to reduce global poverty, promote human health and help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. She thanked the Ministry for the priority that it places on creating a cleaner and safer environment for all Maldivians.
State Minister, Dr. Adbulla Naseer, welcomed all participations to the inception workshop. In his remarks, Dr. Naseer noted that Maldives lacks capacity for the sound management of Persistent Organic Pollutants, hazardous chemicals and hazardous wastes and the absence of locally appropriate technology and equipment for their sound management.

11 Nov 2019

Signing of Project Document

Ministry of Environment Climate Change and Technology and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) project entitled “Eliminating Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) through Sound Management of Chemicals”. During the signing ceremony, the Ministry, reaffirmed its commitment to address the challenges associated with the management of hazardous wastes and chemicals within the country. As the unsafe disposal of chemicals and electronic wastes continues unabated, and their imports continue to grow, the Ministry has made it a priority to take steps to mitigate the risks posed by such substances.

The main objective of this project is to reduce or eliminate the use of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and its unintentional production. Through capacity strengthening and the formulation of a national regulatory framework, the project will provide a nationally effective and environmentally sound system to manage POPs in addition to other hazardous chemicals.