21 Sep 2012

NAIROBI / CHEMICALS

Posted at: September 21, 2012 4:53 pm

Duration: 01:44

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: NAIROBI / CHEMICALS
TRT: 1.44
SOURCE: UNEP / UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 17-19 SEPTEMBER 2012, NAIROBI, KENYA / FILE

SHOTLIST:

UNEP – 17-19 SEPTEMBER 2012, NAIROBI, KENYA

1. Wide shot, delegates in conference room
2. Various shots, delegates
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
"What we are confronting here is still an imperfect world of knowledge, because we know that of these 140,000 chemicals, many of them simply exist. Many and an increasing number is being used and many are also entering into cycles that we may not have envisaged or that we did not anticipate…or that we simply do not know about."

FILE – UNEP – DATE AND LOCATION UNKNOWN

4. Wide shot, spraying crops

FILE – FAO – DATE UNKNOWN, SRI LANKA 
 
5. Various shots, fumigation with chemicals 
6. Close up, water being absorbed by sand

UNEP – 17-19 SEPTEMBER 2012, NAIROBI, KENYA

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Davis, Senior Officer, Pesticides Management, FAO; Chair, Inter-Organizational Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals
"They are often used by farmers who may be illiterate, may be poorly educated, are almost certainly poorly equipped, they cannot protect themselves, they got bad application equipment in the developing world and therefore while using chemicals that are toxic, and are being badly used, and are being dispersed in the environment and on food, which is problematic, so we need to pay attention to pesticides as a particular group, as I say particularly in the developing world, but in general as well, they need to be given a high level of attention."

FILE – FAO – MAY -JUNE 2011, NATIONAL LOCUST CENTRE AIRBASE, BETROKA, MADAGASCAR

8. Various shots, ground spraying operations

STORYLINE:

The third International Conference on Chemicals Management today (21 September) extended until 2015 a trust fund that has to-date provided over thirty million dollars to improve the management of potentially hazardous chemicals in more than a hundred countries in an effort to safeguard human health and the environment.
Delegates at the five-day conference in Nairobi, Kenya also recognized the need to better understand and communicate the risks posed by endocrine disrupting chemicals - compounds which disrupt the systems that produce and secrete hormones in humans and wildlife.
A 2002 study found that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that some wildlife species have suffered disruption from these chemicals, and a growing body of work since then has found emerging evidence of adverse effects on humans - including links to infertility and cancers, as well as impaired thyroid and brain function.
Almost 800 chemicals are known or suspected to be capable of interfering with hormone receptors, hormone synthesis or hormone conversion.
The top UN environment official, Under-Secretary-General Achim Steiner told the meeting there was no question that chemicals have become an integral part of the 21st century economy and development process.

However, he said not enough was known about the estimated 140,000 chemicals estimated to exist. An increasing number was being used, despite our living in an "imperfect world of knowledge", and could be "entering into cycles that we may not have envisaged or that we did not anticipate".
At the conference there were also many calls to take action on highly hazardous pesticides, which industry experts and campaigners said were often deployed inappropriately by end users. 
The accumulated cost of illness and injury linked to pesticides in small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa could reach US$90 billion between 2005 and 2020, according to the Global Chemicals Outlook report.
Mark Davis, a chemicals expert with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said that pesticides are "probably the most widely used chemicals" in the developing world. He pointed out that this group of chemicals is unique in that they are designed to be toxic to living organisms; they are intentionally dispersed in the environment; and they are often used on food crops. In addition, in the developing world pesticides are often used by farmers who are poorly educated and poorly equipped.

"We need to pay attention to pesticides as a particular group", he concluded.

Over 500 delegates and experts from 124 countries, international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations and the chemicals industry gathered for the meeting under the auspices of the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM).
One of the key tools of SAICM, adopted in 2006, was the Quick Start Programme (QSP), which has been has been supporting initial enabling activities for the sound management of chemicals in developing countries, least developed countries, small island developing states and countries with economies in transition.