March 2013: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has endorsed a US$3.5 million project in Colombia, titled “Development of National Capacity for the Environmentally Sound Management and Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs).” The objective of the project is to protect human health and the environment locally as well as globally arising from unsound PCB management in Colombia.

The Implementing Agency for the project is the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the Executing Agency is the Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.

The project includes activities to: strengthening the legal, administrative and regulatory framework for the sound management of PCBs; develop national capacity for environmentally sound management and disposal of PCBs; dispose of PCBs through demonstration projects in an environmentally sound manner; and monitor, learn, provide adaptive feedback and outreach.

PCBs, a class of synthetic organic chemicals, are classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and are being phased out under the Stockholm Convention on POPs. PCBs are considered to be immunotoxic and affect reproduction. PCBs can be destroyed through the breaking of their molecular bonds by the input of either chemical or thermal energy. [Project details] [CEO Endorsed FSPs]