Abidjan – Following a request from the Government of Côte d'Ivoire, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is undertaking an independent environmental assessment of sites affected by the dumping of toxic waste from the ship known as the "Probo Koala" in August 2006.
The field work component of UN Environment's assessment was undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team of international and Ivorian experts between 4 and 14 July 2016.
The team sampled soil, water, air, vegetation, shellfish and sediment from the dumping sites and their surroundings, as well as from locations where contaminated materials were stored or treated. The samples have been shipped to three independent internationally-accredited laboratories in Europe to be analysed.
Results from these analyses will be compared to national standards in Côte d'Ivoire as well as international guidelines.
UN Environment will publish its findings in a comprehensive report, which is expected to be ready by December 2016. UN Environment will also make all of the underlying data publicly available.
Notes to Editors
The final report will be published online and in hardcopy, and will be available in French and in English.
All published information relating to the assessment will be made available at
http://www.unep.org/disastersandconflicts/Default.aspx?tabid=1060527%20.
Additional information about UN Environment's work in Côte d'Ivoire is also available at this website, including UN Environment's Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment of Côte d'Ivoire, published in 2015.
This project is entirely financed by the Government of Côte d'Ivoire.
Photographs of the recently conducted fieldwork are available at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/unep_dc/sets/72157670266025892/.
For more information, please contact:
Sophie Brown, UN Environment Communications Advisor, Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch, sophie.brown[at]unep.org, +41 22 917 88 39
UNEP Newsdesk, unepnewsdesk[at]unep.org, +254 725 939620
