BY MEKONNEN TESHOME
Huge Stockpile of Hazardous Chemicals
One of Ethiopia’s leading investigative journalist and fact-checker Elias Meseret who is also a Correspondent for the Associated Press today September 20, 2023 has indicated that he is wary of the huge stockpile of Hazardous chemicals around the country’s capital – Addis Ababa.
Elias who said that he is wondering with the long silence of concerned bodies about the issue, recalling that two years back the Public Procurement and Property Authority (PPPA), announced that a study was being done in collaboration with the Addis Ababa University on the stock of chemicals and the results would be announced.
Ethio FM Radio earlier quoted the Director General of the Authority as saying that there is a chemical stockpile in Addis Ababa that can destroy up to 250m diameters around the storage, he pointed out.
Elias writes in his social media that the repeated efforts to reach the Agency’s head and his questions presented to him were unsuccessful and assures for his readers that he would file story on the pressing issue if anybody of a right authority provides him the information.
Evidences of Huge Stockpile of Hazardous Chemicals
In April 2021, The Reporter carried a story citing the then Public Procurement and Property Administration Agency announcing that a huge stockpile of outdated explosive chemicals in Addis Ababa has the capacity of annihilating the capital.
According to the report, then Director of the Agency Haji Ibsa told journalits : “ongoing inquiry is in progress with experts from Addis Ababa University, in partnership with the Institute of Biotechnology, to identify the type of chemicals the agency discovered in Lafto Sub-city.”
He also indicated that there are chemicals stored in Bahir Dar University .Some of the chemicals stored were confiscated after the products were brought in by illegal suppliers.
Inflammable chemicals including pesticides, acidic chemicals, DDT, electronic waste and other substances have been stored in various warehouses after being imported by the government and private companies. Citing various sources , The Reporter also pointed out that Ethiopia has accumulated obsolete pesticide stocks since it started importing the item in the 1960s.
Efforts of Hazardous Chemicals Disposal
Then, it was also announced that a committee has been set up by the Federal Public Procurement & Property Administration Agency to conduct a study on how to effectively dispose of expired and toxic chemicals stockpiled at government institutions, including universities.
Under the main committee , three sub-committees were also tasked to address this issue and conduct a study on how best to properly discard laboratory chemicals, electronic waste and other toxic materials. Composed of representatives from the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Agency, the ministries of Agriculture and Health, researchers from universities, and private sector representatives, as well as officials from the Federal Public Procurement & Property Administration Agency, it is expected to table a plan of action in a month to the Ministry of Finance
The study conducted by researchers from the Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center : “Pesticide Use Practices and Effects on Crop Yield, Human Health and the Environment in Selected Areas of Ethiopia” states that it is imperative to focus on safety measures and management options to reduce the perceived pesticide risks. About 99% of the households surveyed use at least one type of chemical pesticide, it confirmed.
Hazardous Chemicals Remain to Be Threats
In its last March 2023 consultative meeting on the pesticide life cycle in Ethiopia, the Resilient Agriculture for Inclusive and Sustainable Ethiopian Food Systems programme (RAISE-FS) underscored that the Agricultural input and output Marketing System Development Technical Committee (part of the RED&FS Sector Working group) has identified the challenges of the pesticide life cycle namely importation of poor-quality chemicals, local adulteration, misuse by end users, existence of huge amount of expired agro-chemicals and weak and unclear policy in taking measures.
“The use and misuse of pesticides is a common phenomenon in agricultural practices of Ethiopia. This might vary from utilizing the wrong products and dosage, using highly hazardous pesticides, to using counterfeit pesticides and disposing of them improperly,” it added.
Major challenges to the pesticide life cycle that were identified include: a lack of directives and guidelines, a limited supply of active ingredients, access to foreign currency, counterfeits products contraband, a lack of high-quality bulk and satellite storage, limited supplier awareness of pesticide use, a lack of safe means of pesticide transportation, a lack of empty pesticide container management and obsolete pesticide disposal, and a lack of environmental protection.
In Ethiopia, chemical waste was not being disposed of properly, as it could not be done in the country, and sending it abroad was costly for many years now. There is no available information on how much obsolete chemical waste is accrued in Ethiopia.
Proper Disposal of Chemical Waste
Number of parties to international multilateral environmental agreements on hazardous waste, and other chemicals that meet their commitments and obligations in transmitting information as required by each relevant agreement.
Countries continue to address air, soil and water pollution, and exposure to toxic chemicals, under the auspices of various multilateral agreements.
Almost all United Nations Member States are party to at least one of these conventions and 157 of them are party to three. Under the current conventions’ obligations, countries are requested to regularly report data and information related to hazardous wastes, persistent organic pollutants and ozone-depleting substances.
SDG 12.4.1 captures the transmission rate in relation to the information submitted by the Parties to the Secretariat of each MEA, as required by each of the agreements. transmission rate is defined as the percentage of all commitments fulfilled in transmitting data and information by a Party as required by each agreement.