The governments of The Gambia and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Office in Banjul have signed a US$2million environmental facility project.
UNDP Resident Representative, Dr Aissata De and Gambia’s Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service Muhammed Jallow initialled the project document on Wednesday.
The environmental facility is intended to support The Gambia with the necessary technical and financial assistance to reduce the risks posed by a group of oily liquids and solid man-made chemicals known as PCBs (Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls) and unintended Persistent Organic Pollutants (U-POPS) to the human health and the environment.
Jallow said no one can underestimate the importance of the environment to the development of The Gambia.
A great majority of the population rely on the river and marine resources for their livelihoods. Hence contamination of the waters will have serious impact on the population in the cities and the rural areas.
The Executive Director of the National Environment Agency (NEA), Mr. Dodou Trawally explained that the project will include the identification and disposal of 75 tons of PCB-contaminated equipment and waste and the reduction of U-POPS through the improved waste management practices and reduction of open burning of waste.
The UNDP Resident Representative said environment is one of the key priorities and areas of intervention in terms of closeness to the population for the UNDP.
“We all know the impact and the importance of the environment on our daily lives and on development in general. This project is one more action because we have longstanding partnership between the National Environment Agency, the Ministry of Environment and the government,” she said, thanking all collaborators that UNDP has been working with for the environment and the people for the ownership of those projects.
NEA is the implementing partner for the government, while the UNDP country office is the Global Environment Fund (GEF) implementing agency for this project.
