Triangular cooperation between Mexico, Peru and Germany: Improving the system for contaminated site management
Project description
Project title: Regional fund for the promotion of triangular cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean – individual measure: Improving the system for contaminated site management
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Peru (recipient country), Mexico (partner country)
Overall term: 2014 to 2017
Context
Soil contamination as a result of human intervention poses a serious problem to the environment, public health and the economy in Peru. The Peruvian environmental authorities require environmental standards and statistical information in order to create and implement public policy geared to alleviating this problem, including legislation, regulations and a legal framework.
From 2001 to 2013 Mexico and Germany implemented many highly effective bilateral cooperation projects concerned with the expert remediation of contaminated sites. The Peruvian Ministry of Environment approached these two countries for support in late 2011. In response to this request, GIZ worked with the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) and the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) to set up a triangular cooperation arrangement with Peru. The project has been financed since 2014 from the Regional Fund for the Promotion of Triangular Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Objective
Peru has a sustainable, integrated management system for contaminated sites.
Approach
A sustainable, integrated management system for contaminated sites is being strengthened in Peru. To this end, legal, technical, administrative and management instruments are being developed and applied.
In collaboration with AMEXCID and SEMARNAT, GIZ is supporting Peruvian decision-makers with updating and expanding the legal framework for contaminated sites, in particular with a view to effective implementation. GIZ promotes the development, adaptation and operational implementation of management instruments. It also encourages representatives of the public and private sectors and civil society to pool and broaden their collective specialist knowledge and expertise.
The project fosters an exchange of experience between Mexican, Peruvian and German experts. Furthermore, the triangular cooperation activities stimulate the transfer of knowledge and experience within Latin America in general, specifically to Colombia and Costa Rica. The Latin American Network for the Prevention and Management of Contaminated Sites (ReLASC), which is set to undergo further improvement, plays an instrumental role in this respect.
Results
Since the launch of the project, Mexican and German experts have been helping the Peruvian Ministry of Environment (MINAM) – which was established in 2008 – to strengthen and adapt the country’s regulatory framework. In Lima, for example, advisory services were provided on formulating content regarding contaminated sites in the new Peruvian waste management act. In addition, the partners are helping Peru to develop its own version of SISCO, the national inventory of contaminated sites. This is a crucial planning tool for the integrated management of contaminated sites, such as oil-polluted soils, mine dumps, hazardous waste heaps and toxic groundwater. A round table was organised at which experts from the public sector were able to discuss and share technical results and experiences.
Since the Regional Fund began financing the project, those responsible for contaminated sites at MINAM have attended a training course organised by SEMARNAT and the Mexican Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA). Jointly they prepared a handbook containing standardised rules for evaluating rehabilitation plans for contaminated sites and programmed a new version of the national inventory of contaminated sites. In addition, the necessary preparations were made to enable MINAM to handle future coordination of contaminated site management in Latin America (ReLASC). SEMARNAT has been performing this role since 2009.