Second Steering Committee, Training Workshop and Study Tour of the GEF Global PRTRs implementation project in Lima, Peru

March 9 2018 : Peru

 

                                              

 

The second Project Steering Committee Meeting of the "Global Project on the Implementation of PRTRs as a tool for POPs reporting, dissemination and awareness raising for Belarus, Cambodia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Peru" was organized jointly by UNITAR and the Ministry of Environment of Peru (MINAM), from the 5th to the 8th March 2018 in Lima, Peru.

The objective of the Second Steering Committee (PSC) meeting was to review project performance, to analyze whether the project is on track, what problems and challenges the project is encountering, and which corrective actions are required.The PSC meeting evaluated the progress of the project, taking the necessary measures to guarantee the fulfillment of the goals and objectives.The mandate of the PSC is to monitor the progress of the project and give advice as to implementation issues.

The PSC is formed by UN Environment (Implementing Agency), UNITAR (Executing Agency), UNECE (PRTR Protocol Secretariat) and National Coordinators of the participating countries

The mandate of the PSC is to monitor the progress of the project and give advice as to implementation issues.

                                                 

 

Summary of the event

5th March 2018

The opening of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) was made by Mr. Daniel Nunez, coordinator of RETC Peru and Director of Environmental Information and Investigation of MINAM. Shortly after the representing of UN Environment reported the satisfactory work undertaken by UNITAR in the implementation of project, management of activities and the quality and timing of reporting. He also mentioned that some countries are still presenting issues to be addressed quickly in order to assure the implementation of the project. UNECE continued the webinar session by updating participants on the initiative and updates from the PRTR Protocol Secretariat.  

The meeting carried on with the overview of the global component and progress of the project implementation by UNITAR. Then, the national coordinators updated the assembly on the progress made under the country’s component.

 

  • Moldova:  The country managed to put the legal implementation of PRTR in the national agenda and discussion in parliament will take place soon. The county has followed the IPCC guideline regarding estimating point source of emission and will tackle next the diffuse sources. Also, EPPO started in 2017 to train industries and environmental inspection officials on PRTR reporting from three different regions, and they will continue during the first trimester of 2018. In addition, PRTR system will be made obligatory for all industries and economic operators which operate by obtaining environmental permits. Moldova asks for 102 pollutants to be reported.
  • Peru:  The current situation in Peru is facing two major issues. From a political perspective, there is the idea that including more environmental measures in an economy in expansion will be counterproductive to a faster development. The technical issue is that industries are already complying to other reporting requirements at national level, and they were not willing to report also on RETC. Peru has already started the first reporting cycle including 3 sectors. The country has a current list of 144 substances and 7 parameters.
  • Cambodia: Current PRTR activities in the country includes finalization and translation of the national legal framework to include PRTR provisions in the current Environmental Code, IT development of the online reporting system, national PRTR website and press releases available in English, and training activities.
  • Belarus: National PRTR proposal is being translated in English to allow UNITAR revision; the national legislation needs to be updated to include PRTR requirements and regulatory acts that are being developed by national consultants; the national PRTR website is also being updated by adding additional contextual information. However, Belarus do not have in place a PRTR legislation and the reporting is only on a voluntary basis, which need to be overcome. There is also a lack of political willingness to allocate national funds to create a new national institution responsible of PRTR operations and maintenance beyond the duration of the project. For these reasons, the ratification process to access the PRTR Protocol in Belarus is now on hold.
  • Kazakhstan: Different steps of PRTR development are currently being implemented: legal aspects, website and online reporting tool, methodologies for estimating emissions, outreach campaign, including training and seminars. Also, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has included the ratification of the PRTR Protocol in the national agenda and it will be ratified in 2018.
  • Ecuador: There is difficulties in implementing the project due to administrative constrains and bureaucratic procedures which prevented the use of funds as agreed in the agreement and as per budget lines approved. In addition, Ecuador is still the only country which has not implemented the inception workshop. One of the other challenge is the lack of support from the National Environmental Control Direction translating with the few number of people (1) allocated to work on this project, which results in slow responses and significant delays in project activities. Ecuador has now less than a year to finish the project if the country wants to count on UNITAR support.

 

6th March 2018

The second day of the event started with a round table discussion, for countries to express themselves on the challenges and needs that each one would like to further assess or received training. This was followed by the closure of the PSC meeting started the day before. Then, the implementation of the PRTR Protocol and the LAC Regional Agreement on Principle 10 were discussed with representative from both UNECE and ECLAC. The first speaker briefed the participants on various aspect of PRTR implementation, while the other shared the news about the new LAC Regional Agreement on Principle 10 recently adopted, and which aims to guarantee the full and effective implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean of the rights of access to environmental information, public participation in the environmental decision-making process and access to justice in environmental matters, and the creation and strengthening of capacities and cooperation, contributing to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in a healthy environment and to sustainable development. This agreement is a unique opportunity to foster PRTRs implementation in the region.

Then, Mr. Serrano, from Ministry Of Environment (MOE) of Chile provided participants and national coordinators with a comprehensive training on PRTRs information requirements and release estimation techniques (RET) by taking as a case study the Chilean experience in designing and implementing the national PRTR system. His experience in Chile highlighted that the PRTR has a gradual process. Then, the session carried on PRTR reporting through Chile experience and a case study on the first PRTR pilot trail in this country was presented. The difficulties and the positives aspect of it were highlighted. Then, the international expert introduced the techniques that are currently available for the estimation of emissions from point sources, and diffuse sources: direct measurement, mass balance, emissions factors and engineering estimates. He mentioned also the standard approaches for calculating emissions: the bottom-up approach and top-down approach.

 

 

7th March 2018

During the third day of the event, a site visit to a chemicals plants, BASF Peruana S.A. that manufactures chemicals was organized by Ministerio del Ambiente (Ministry of Environment- MINAM). The aim was for participants to learn more about the PRTR reporting process from the industry’s perspective. It was highlighted that training activities and seminars organized and conducted by the MINAM were extremely useful for the company to understand the reporting process and uses of the reported data.

      

 

8th March 2018

The last day, national coordinators were invited to participate in the morning session of workshop organized by the MINAM organized for the official launching of the 3rd reporting cycle of PRTR in Peru. For the occasion, industries representatives from chemical, fishing and agro-industries and NGOs were invited to attend the meeting and share the experiences related to PRTR reporting.

Once the national workshop ended up, the next meeting was a private session between UNITAR, national coordinators and the PRTR team from Peru. One national consultant of the RETC team briefed the national coordinators on the legal framework in which PRTR operates, and the Interministerial coordination mechanism that has been put in place in the country. A live demonstration of the updated PRTR online reporting system took place, where the participants were able to see and understand all the different steps of the online reporting software developed by Peru: from the registration process of the main company, and the different facilities owned by the same company, to the GIS information using google maps, and filling the different sections of the reporting format. The last presentation was around Peru’s national communication strategy on access to environmental information.

   

If you want more information or documents about this event, please send a mail to cwm@unitar.org