A government delegation of Guatemala visited SCP/RAC

The Guatemalan delegation consisted of: -Ana Dolores Consuelo Arévalo, project coordinator pursuant to the Stockholm Convention, MARN, -Maria Olga Morales, environmental consultant, MARN, -Jennifer Waleska Zamora, Unit for Environmental Management of Chemicals and Hazardous Wastes, MARN, -Justo Elivez Ajanel, Polychlorinated Biphenyls adviser of the Stockholm Convention, MARN, -Mónica Méndez Arriola, analyst, Environment and Health Pollutants, National Health Laboratory, Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, -Carmen Ninette Monterroso, coordinator of exchanges, leading expert of “ADA-Integración” Project, IEPADES-EURADIO Consortium. From SCP/RAC, Roger Garcia and Frederic Gallo attended the meeting.

The visit served to present to the delegation of Guatemala the Catalan Waste Agency, organism hosting the Centre and responsible of wastes management in Catalonia. The Deputy Director of the Agency, Francesc Giró, presented the main activities developed under the Wastes Law of Catalonia.

Mrs. Zamora from the Guatemalan delegation presented the background of the compliance with the Stockholm Convention and National Implementation Plan, which includes 315 activities as e.g. inventory of dioxins and furans, updating the inventory of obsolete pesticides and POPs pesticides, updating the inventory of PCBs and the activities of Information, Awareness and Training of civil society. Also, the National Health Laboratory of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare and the various services that provides were presented, highlighting the analysis of the active principle of household and agricultural pesticides.

As part of the collaborative activities of SCP/RAC for the prevention and substitution of toxic chemicals, it was held a video conference with ISTAS, an autonomous foundation of Spain. During this, Ms Sara Pérez and Ms Purificación Morán presented the SUBSPORT web, a consultancy open platform on toxic chemicals products for health and environment and other tools of risk prevention, as RISCTOX, a database detailing more than 100.000 hazardous substances that aims to provide clear, organized and concise information about the risks for health and environment of chemicals substances that may be present in products that are handled or generated in the industry and its alternatives. 

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