Guyana is the only English-speaking country on the northeastern coast of the continent of South America, with a population of 746,955 persons (population census 2012). The economy is agriculturally dominant, but it is now being overtaken by the oil and gas and service sectors.

The Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board, under the Ministry of Agriculture, serves as the focal point for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). It is responsible for fulfilling national obligations under the Convention and developing the updated NIP for Guyana.

POPs are a group of chemicals that have been produced both intentionally for use as pesticides and industrial performance chemicals, as well as unintentionally through various industrial activities. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food chain, and cause adverse effects to human health and the environment. POPs not only pose threats to the regions in which they are produced and used, but they also threaten other regions where they have never been used or produced as they are transported via air and water, posing an even greater threat to the global population and environment.

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