The National Environmental Agency (NEA) last Wednesday held a day-long inception and planning forum on strengthening capacity in Strategic Approach to International Chemical Management (SAICM) implementation as well as supporting the Globally Harmonised System (GHS) project’s capacity implementation in The Gambia, at the Paradise Suites Hotel in Kololi.

The new system called the GHS, addresses classification of chemicals by types of hazards and proposes harmonised hazard communication elements, including labels and safety data. It is aimed at ensuring that information on physical hazards and toxicity from chemicals are made available in a manner that would enhance the protection of human health and the environment during handling, transport and use of the chemicals.  

The GHS also provides a basis for harmonisation of rules and regulations on chemicals at national, regional and global levels, which can also be an important factor for trade promotion between nations. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Momodou B Sarr, executive director of NEA, said the project is within the framework of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), adding that it is a noble initiative towards international cooperation to protect human health and environment.

According to him, the decision to develop SAICM was first endorsed by heads of state and governments at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 and New York in 2005. He disclosed that the SAICM was formally adopted by the International Conference on Chemicals Management in Dubai in 2006, after several years of consultation with government, inter-governmental organisations and civil society from relevant sectors, including agriculture, health, industry and labour unions.

Sarr adduced that SAICM provides a policy framework to guide global, regional and national efforts to achieve the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation Goal, which states that by 2020, chemicals will be produced and used in ways that minimise significant adverse impacts on the environment and human health. He alluded that despite the valuable contributions made by chemicals to modern societies and economies, it can be a potential threat to sustainable development if not managed in an environmentally sound manner.

The NEA boss described the project as timely, saying it came at a moment when the country is endeavouring to increase food production and comprehensively diversifying the entire agricultural sector. “To achieve the aims and target of the new agricultural policy, the use of agro-chemicals including pesticides and fertilizers will be totally inevitable”, he said.

Sarr informed the gathering that his agency is hosting the forum not by coincidence, but by virtue of its statutory role as the conventional focal point for all the chemicals-related international and multi-lateral agreements signed and ratified by The Gambia. “Considering the great importance chemicals play in our daily lives,” he said, “the NEA has an enormous responsibility at hand to protect the health and the environment from the adverse of all these products”.

He thanked United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for providing the necessary support to kick-start the project. Mehdia Siari from the UNITAR in Geneva, said UNITAR is appreciative of its longstanding partnership for chemicals management with the government of The Gambia, its agencies and partners.

The partnership, she said, includes a two-year GHS capacity building project that was implemented from 2005-2007, which resulted in the development of initial national GHS implementation strategy.  According to her, SAICM is meant to promote chemical safety. “The ultimate objective of the GHS project is to ensure that information on chemical hazards is made available to workers and consumers via labels and SDS in a harmonised and comprehensive format to ensure chemical safety.

The GHS is also important economically as it facilitates trade in chemicals where their hazards have been properly assessed and identified on  international basis,” she remarked. “Within the region,” she went on, “the GHS is included in the action plan of the environment initiative of NEPAD as a cross-cutting issue, as endorsed by the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment and the Summit of the African Union in July 2003, and was addressed by the Regional workshop on Chemical Hazard Communication and GHS Implementation for Countries of Ecowas in Nigeria 2008”.

She finally thanked The Gambia government through the NEA for working with UNITAR.
Officially opening the forum, Lamin Nyabally, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Forestry and the Environment on behalf of his minister said, though The Gambia does not manufacture or formulate chemical compounds, it heavily imports agricultural, industrial, and consumer chemicals to meet the needs of the rapidly growing population. “We are a predominantly agricultural country and depend heavily on pesticides and plant growth regulators to enhance agricultural productivity”, he noted, adding that pesticides are heavily used in the public sector to control arthropod vectors of human diseases. He however stated that its use can be abused in many industries including fisheries.
According to him, the sound management of chemicals is therefore not only important to the people and their environment, but also  to industries concerned with fisheries, crop production, livestock, water resources and human health.

Recognising the vulnerability of a population compounded by a low level awareness on chemicals, PS Nyabally said the country, through collaboration with partners, has over the years taken courageous steps towards the development of an institutional framework for the sound management of chemicals. He reminded the gathering of the 1994 Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides Control and Management Act, which was enacted to regulate the manufacture, importation, transport, use and disposal of chemicals.

According to him, the government has signed and ratified a number of international and sub-regional accords and agreements for the sound management of chemicals. He finally expressed gratitude to UNITAR for the significant role they are playing in this important endeavour.