Partnership for Pollution Prevention

The Partnership for Pollution Prevention (Ppp) is an international cooperative effort to ensure the environmental sustainability of the Western Hemisphere. Pollution prevention requires the efficient utilization of raw materials and energy, as well as modifications in products and manufacturing processes to minimize environmental impact. The Ppp promotes technical and financial cooperation and information exchange among nations. It also promotes the adoption of strict, internationally compatible environmental laws and regulations and the implementation of international environmental agreements. The Ppp works toward improving technologies for environmental protection and increasing public awareness and participation in environmental issues, particularly among indigenous groups and other affected communities. Finally, the Ppp encourages the inclusion of sustainability objectives in other developmental and national policies.

The Ppp is Action Initiative 23 of the Plan of Action developed at the First Summit of the Americas, held in Miami, Florida, in 1994. It is based on the policies formulated at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and the 1994 Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. The initial Ppp priorities were formulated at a meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in November 1995. The meeting also addressed issues of financing, public-private partnerships, new legislation, compliance and enforcement, and public participation. Sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), this meeting included representatives from 20 countries, as well as members of international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and development banks.

The initial Ppp priorities are health and environmental problems stemming from lead contamination and the misuse of pesticides. The Ppp also addresses problems of waste, air and water quality , marine pollution , and urbanization. Under the Ppp, 10 nations have made formal political commitments in the areas of health and the environment. Furthermore, under the Ppp, the environmental policies of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are being integrated with its trade and economic policies, and NAFTA is confronting issues of pesticide registration and chemical pollution control .

An OAS meeting in 1996 that included the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank , the PAHO, the EPA, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) formed a task force for Ppp implementation. In October 1997 the task force merged with a similar task force from the 1996 Santa Cruz (Bolivia) Summit on Sustainable Development. This new task force established a number of working groups to address cleaner production, innovative financing for sustainable development, improved access to drinking water, and the networking of environmental experts. The working group on energy infrastructure has obtained funding for a gas pipeline being constructed between Santa Cruz and São Paolo, Brazil. The working group for sustainable cities and communities initiates projects to strengthen local governments, promote local involvement in planning, and improve access to capital and to low-income housing.

The Ppp working group to phase out leaded gasoline has served as a model for other working groups. The EPA, PAHO, and the World Health Organization (WHO) have held lead phase-out training workshops. The World Bank works with individual countries to finance refinery upgrades and conversions. As a result of these efforts, a number of nations have banned the sale of leaded gasoline. Leaded gasoline is expected to be eliminated from the Western Hemisphere by 2007. The World Bank, USAID, and the EPA also have developed a lead-monitoring program for children and adults in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Under the auspices of the Ppp, the Cleaner Production Conference of the Americas was held in São Paulo in 1998. It established the Cleaner Production Roundtable of the Americas, a formal network of cleaner production practitioners who share ideas and promote the benefits of cleaner production for sustainable development. The conference also set up a communications network and identified priority needs for cleaner production and pollution controls.

Under the Ppp, the USAID's Regional Environmental Project for Central America, in collaboration with the EPA and the Central American Commission on Environment and Development, has established regional pollution prevention networks to address solid waste and wastewater management and the safe use of pesticides. Wastewater and aircontamination regulations, municipal pollution prevention and environmental action plans, and a training network in environmental law have been established in Central American countries. As part of the Ppp, the USAID has carried out projects for pollution prevention, clean industrial technologies, and coastal and marine management throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

[Margaret Alic Ph.D. ]

RESOURCES

BOOKS

Bureau of Inter-American Affairs.Words Into Deeds, Progress Since the Miami Summit: Report on the Implementation of the Decisions Reached at the 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas. Washington, DC: United States Department of State, 1998.

OTHER

First Summit of the Americas: Plan of Action. Secretariat for Legal Affairs, Organization of American States. 2001 [cited May 29, 2002]. <www.oas.org/Juridico/english/PlanI.html>.

Office of the Summit Follow-Up.Words Into Deeds: Progress Since the Miami Summit. Organization of American States. 1998 [cited May 28, 2002]. <www.summit-americas.org/WordsintoDeeds-eng.htm>.

ORGANIZATIONS

Free Trade Area of the Americas "FTAA" Administrative Secretariat, Apartado Postal 89-10044, Zona 9, Ciudad de Panamá, Republica de Panamá (507) 270-6900, Fax: (507) 270-6990, , www.ftaa-alca.org/alca_e.asp

National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, 11 Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 201, Washington, DC, USA 20036 (202) 299-9701, Fax: (202) 299-9704, Email: [email protected], www.p2.org

Organization of American States, 17th Street and Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC, USA 20006 (202) 458-3000, , <http://www.oas.org>

United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. USA 20460 Toll Free: (800) 490-9198, Email: [email protected], <http://www.epa.gov>