Despite its diminutive size, the island nation of Palau is home to an astounding array of natural beauty: in addition to pristine beaches and coral reefs, mangroves and native forests cover three quarters of the country, creating the most biodiverse mix of plants in all of Micronesia.
This natural landscape draws thousands of tourists to Palau each year, creating an important bolster for the country’s economy—around half of Palau’s gross domestic product depends on tourism. But gaps in chemicals and waste management pose an increasing threat to both the country’s natural resources and its economic development.
In Koror, the country’s commercial capital, households generate over 1,300 tonnes of solid waste each year, creating a considerable challenge for collection and disposal.Palau also imports almost all its chemicals for industrial and commercial use, meaning that increasingly hazardous chemicals are being imported and used without appropriate safeguards.
In order to support Palau’s ongoing efforts in resolving these issues, the country is partnering with the Chemicals and Waste Management Programme on an ambitious three-year project to strengthen its capacity to implement sound chemicals and waste management in accordance with obligations under the Basel, Stockholm and Minamata conventions, to which Palau is party.
Among the project’s key initial tasks will be providing a comprehensive overview and assessment of Palau’s existing legal, administrative and technical infrastructure related to chemicals and waste management. This will help identify national environmental priorities and necessary legislative reform, so that adequate management of hazardous wastes and chemicals becomes a bedrock of the country’s public policy going forward.
One of the greatest threats to conservation in Palau is marine litter, particularly plastics, but there are no known surveys or assessments of the scale and impact of marine debris. To address this issue, Palau will complete a national marine litter survey as the basis for a Marine Litter Action Plan to identify and cost appropriate interventions in consultation with a range of stakeholders including government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
Palau will also work to establish a centralized data management system for chemicals and wastes. This will encompass data from chemical inventories, waste recycling, disposal and export activities, among others. This database will strengthen Palau’s ability to meet its reporting obligations under the Basel, Stockholm and Minamata conventions and also improve evidence-based policymaking in the future.
To develop Palau’s implementation of these conventions even further, the country will also provide training to key public and private sector stakeholders, including regulators and enforcers, customs officers, business owners and their employees, and waste managers.
The project will also see Palau develop a national register of approved chemicals and create a system requiring all chemical importers to hold a chemical import permit. The permitting and registration systems will strengthen Palau’s ability to control the introduction of harmful and unnecessary chemicals, and help promote sustainable development by reducing the financial and economic costs associated with the management of difficult chemicals.
Finally, because Palau’s end-of-life management of chemicals is often hindered by a lack of resources, the country will also evaluate sustainable financing mechanisms to support sound chemicals and waste management. In this way, Palau will improve both the legislation and financing behind chemicals and waste management, ensuring that these policies become a sustainable and fundamental part of safeguarding the country’s many natural treasures.
For further information please contact the Special Programme Secretariat at unepchemicalsspecialprogramme@un.org
