The World Bank said on Monday that it had approved two projects to help China phase out three persistent organic pollutants (POP) with US$32.7 million in grants from the Global Environment Fund.

 

The Chinese government had taken rapid action to eliminate key POPs targeted for elimination worldwide due to their impacts on human health and the environment, the bank said in a statement.

 

The bank said POPs were a major environmental concern as they were responsible for causing neurological damage, immune system disorders, cancer and a host 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 had completed preparations for the first two POPs elimination projects and secured for their 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 broadly used in electrical equipment and cause widespread contamination of their storage sites. The project would demonstrate environmentally sound policies, and cost-effective approaches for safely disposing of PCBs, PCB waste and decontaminating PCB sites, it said.

 

The total cost of the project would exceed US$35 million, of which more than half was funded by China, and US$2.02 million is funded by 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 the use of two highly toxic pesticides.

 

The first project of its kind in the World Bank or GEF portfolio, 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 based on integrated pest management.

 

The project would cost US$27.7 million, approximately half of which would be funded by China.

 

The projects form the foundation of the China POPs program to implement the Stockholm Convention.

 

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.

 

"They will generate useful lessons for the complete elimination of PCBs, chlordane and mirex not only in China, but in all other Stockholm Convention countries facing similar challenges," said Chan.

 

The Chinese government is also finalizing a national implementation plan to phase out all 12 POPs targeted for elimination under the Stockholm Convention.

 

The convention entered into force in May 2004 and has 151 signatory countries.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2006)