POPs in the Philippines

 

YES!!!!! Filipino's primary way of earning money is by farming. Farming is not an illegal work it is actually good for the body and it gives people food to eat....

BUT.... everything that we do has consequences. After farmers are farming, insects tend to eat the crops and the only way to stop the insects is to use pesticides, but when farmers use pesticides, the one who will get affected will be the environment and especially us, the people.

The image above shows what the Philippine government passed as a law to protect their people from POs.


Recommendations (Public interest NGO perspective) : 


1. Set up a multistakeholder national coordinating body with the full participation of public interest NGOs and other stakeholders.

2.  The national coordinator (POPs focal person) should be a hired full-time person with sufficient experience in chemical safety issues, preferably from the academe.

3. Training on the Stockholm Convention

4. Multi-stakeholder joint campaigns to put chemical safety, particularly, the issue of Persistent Toxic Substances high in the agenda of government decision makers.

5. Intensified public awareness campaigns and training on alternatives, especially at the grassroots level to enable farmers, fisherfolk and other vulnerable sectors to avoid, reject and develop alternatives to persistent toxic substances.

6. POPs advocacy work for special groups such as the academe, professional associations, consumer groups, church groups, artists and media groups, etc., to convince them to take on the issue of persistent toxic substances and incorporate the issue in their programs, meetings and discussions.

7. Undertake more comprehensive surveys, monitoring and research activities to update the national profile on POPs and other persistent toxic substances, including completion of the inventory of POPs pesticides.

8. Establishment of a national mechanism to speed up process of officially adding new POPs to the original list of twelve, prioritizing toxic chemicals of priority concern for the country.

9. Work for legislative measures to strengthen existing laws and policies that protect
health and the environment.

10. Participatory periodic assessments of progress in the implementation of the
Stockholm Convention and other related international environmental agreements.

Source
- Dan Christian Go