27 August 2012: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has announced that the GEF-Funded recently completed “Demonstration of Alternatives to Chlordane and Mirex in Termite Control Sector in Nanjing, China,” led to the successful phase-out of two termicides, mirex and chlordane, in China.

Both chemicals are banned, and are being phased out under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The project therefore assisted China in making significant progress to meetings its obligations under the Stockholm Convention, as well as mitigating global environmental and health hazards caused by POPs.

According to GEF, it provided US14.36 million to the project, which was co-financed by a US$13.34 million contribution from the Government of China. The project exceeded its expectations, successfully phasing out the two termicides nationwide, as opposed to only in the demonstration areas in three pilot provinces.

With technical assistance from the World Bank, the project used Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a combination of biological, physical and chemical techniques that are economically-sustainable and less hazardous than traditional termicides to humans, animals, and the environment.

Under the project, all production facilities were dismantled, and compensation to producers was made by the Chinese Ministry of Finance. The project also used some funding to remediate three high risk POPs contaminated sites in order to demonstrate POPs destruction technologies. [GEF Press Release]