Tuesday, 10th December 2017, an inception workshop on the preparation of the project “Pesticides Risk Reduction in Bangladesh, a Global Environment Facility (GEF) financed project was organized in the CIRDAP International Conference Centre.by the Department of Environment (DoE) in close collaboration and initiative of the the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The aim of the inception workshop was to inform the stakeholders about the project  and share the draft project document in order to receive further inputs and comments on it and thereby finalize the project document. Mr. Istiaque Ahmad, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh attended the workshop as Chief Guest. 

Mr. Md. Raisul Alam Mondal, Director General, Department of Environment chaired the inaugural session. Among others, Professor Dr Abul Kalam Azad, Director General, Directorate General of Health Services, Krishibid Md. Abdul Aziz, Director General, Department of Agricultural Extension, Mr. David W. Doolan, FAO Representative, Bangladesh was present as Special Guests. The inauguration session was followed by technical session. It was chaired by Mr Abdullah Mohsin Choudhury, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests. In the day-long workshop different aspects of draft project document, prepared by the project preparation team, was presented and discussed for comments from participants.      The project is articulated around four components including the disposal of long talked legacy DDT stockpiles in Chittagong, in an environment-friendly sound manner. The Government of Bangladesh represented by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) and its Department of Environment (DoE) has signed and subsequently ratified the Stockholm Convention in 2007. As an obligation of the Stockholm Convention, this project has been undertaken to eliminate the POPs pesticides, including this huge stockpile of DDT in Chittagong, to protect the human and environment from their harmful effects. These legacy DDT stockpiles have been lying in the MSD warehouses of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) since 1986.