POPs in Southern Africa

Abstract

The current POPs negotiations have brought to the fore the lack of data and information on the environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology of POPs in developing countries. South Africa has sources and uses of POPs comparable with developed countries, but also has conditions and considerations that are distinctly different. To understand the POPs issue from a South African perspective, I describe aspects of the geography, climate, society, economy, development, regulation and the biota that are relevant to POPs. Natural fires are a possible source of POPs, but these fires have been part of the ecology for more than a million years. The composition of the gases, relating to chlorine are also described. Some of the larger commercial companies have already taken action to reduce their use of PCB-contaminated oils. Very little data are available on environmental levels of dioxins, dibenzofurans and PCBs, but they have been found. Waste burning was identified as a potential major, but unknown, contributor. Stocks of obsolete POPs pesticides have been reduced, and good legislation is in place that has eliminated the registrations of all POPs pesticides, save for chlordane use to protect buildings against termites and DDT for malaria control. Malaria control remains a serious issue, and I illustrate from data that the conditions of applications and exposure are very much different from those used in agriculture, and that these considerations must be taken into account when evaluating alternatives. The lack of data could hamper the power of the negotiation positions of developing countries, when compared with developed countries that have more data and information to motivate their agendas.