Failure of Basel Convention
French President Chirac has announced a dramatic recall of the asbestos-laden warship Clemenceau -- it has turned back to France. My congratulations to all the Green Concerns of Citizens acroos the globe and also to the French Government for taking right action at the right time. May Earth sustain and grow.
There has always been an internal conflict between urge for sustainable existence and morality. Today the world has advanced to such a platform that an existence of one hides deep somewhere sacrifices of many others. The increasing divide of economic might has led to such trades which are shame on any civilization or times. Today the sense of cooperation is limited to threats. If a powerful nation has to exploit some aspects of world dynamics, poorer nations would have to sacrifice their will. This is at times imposed to such a level that humanity lose all its meanings. For poorer nations this is a situation of falter or die. We have seen many examples to support this in near past. Be it world trade, nuclear disarmament, pollution control or fuel, it has always been in favor of a few mighty nations. The third world countries have suffered time and again. And whats beautiful is that, this all is done in a cover of legal frames like United Nations and its many branches.
One such derogatory trade that is run for the benefit of wealthier nations is Hazardous waste movement. The are many reasons why wealthier nations like to throw their wastes in poorer nations. One of them is definitely disposal costs. Industrialized countries generate an enormous volume of toxic waste, which is either impossible or extremely costly to recycle. The solution for many years has been to export it to third world countries who have more lenient environmental regulations, are in greater need of funds and where concern for the health of the population is minimum or non-existent.
Following several waste trafficking related scandals in the 1980Ã’s, on March 22, 1989, the Basel Convention was adopted, with the goal of controlling movement and disposal of all kinds of toxic and hazardous waste. Initially the Convention -in force as of May 5, 1992- was criticized by environmental groups because it failed to effectively ban toxic waste exports to poor countries, succeeding only in excluding Antarctica as a destination for such waste. In 1995, however, and as a result of pressure exerted by several countries and environmental groups, an amendment to the Convention was introduced, prohibiting all exports of contaminating material. This ban will only enter into force when the amendment is ratified by 62 of the countries party to the Convention (as of May 2003, 36 countries had already done so). In any event, the scope of the Convention is severely limited by the fact that the United States, the largest toxic residue producer in the world, is not among the signatories.
In spite of the restrictions imposed by environmental groups regarding toxic waste destination, not only has the volume of residues generated not gone down, over the last few years it has gone up, and this increase has not been accompanied by the implementation of effective waste recycling or resource conservation techniques.
The prohibition on toxic waste exports involves reducing toxic waste generation to a minimum and ensuring that the disposal of any waste produced is done in an environmentally sound way, and as near as possible to the source of generation. The aim of banning waste producing countries from exporting their waste to developing countries, for low-cost recovery, recycling or disposal purposes, is to stimulate these countries to produce clean technologies. Industrialized countries produce nearly 80% of the 400 million generated annually in the world, and they export 10% of that proportion, for the most part to underdeveloped countries in dire economic straits. For years, Latin America -and in particular southern countries like Paraguay or Argentina- was used by industrialized countries as a garbage dump, leading some of these countries to be among the most active promoters of ratification. Notwithstanding which, bilateral treaties excluded from the Convention have enabled violations of its provisions, such as the intention to import Australian nuclear waste to Argentina, allegedly for treatment and removal.
Following several waste trafficking related scandals in the 1980Ã’s, on March 22, 1989, the Basel Convention was adopted, with the goal of controlling movement and disposal of all kinds of toxic and hazardous waste. Initially the Convention -in force as of May 5, 1992- was criticized by environmental groups because it failed to effectively ban toxic waste exports to poor countries, succeeding only in excluding Antarctica as a destination for such waste. In 1995, however, and as a result of pressure exerted by several countries and environmental groups, an amendment to the Convention was introduced, prohibiting all exports of contaminating material. This ban will only enter into force when the amendment is ratified by 62 of the countries party to the Convention (as of May 2003, 36 countries had already done so). In any event, the scope of the Convention is severely limited by the fact that the United States, the largest toxic residue producer in the world, is not among the signatories.
In spite of the restrictions imposed by environmental groups regarding toxic waste destination, not only has the volume of residues generated not gone down, over the last few years it has gone up, and this increase has not been accompanied by the implementation of effective waste recycling or resource conservation techniques.
The prohibition on toxic waste exports involves reducing toxic waste generation to a minimum and ensuring that the disposal of any waste produced is done in an environmentally sound way, and as near as possible to the source of generation. The aim of banning waste producing countries from exporting their waste to developing countries, for low-cost recovery, recycling or disposal purposes, is to stimulate these countries to produce clean technologies. Industrialized countries produce nearly 80% of the 400 million generated annually in the world, and they export 10% of that proportion, for the most part to underdeveloped countries in dire economic straits. For years, Latin America -and in particular southern countries like Paraguay or Argentina- was used by industrialized countries as a garbage dump, leading some of these countries to be among the most active promoters of ratification. Notwithstanding which, bilateral treaties excluded from the Convention have enabled violations of its provisions, such as the intention to import Australian nuclear waste to Argentina, allegedly for treatment and removal.
There have been many stories running in media that expose failure of Basel Convention. This is happening due to reluctance on the part of a few countries that shy away from the convention for economic benefits. It will continue the same way. Infact this is nothing new. Similar fates have been observed for many other efforts in past. The only way out is to strenthen the will power of southern countries. It is high time for them to say no to import of hazardous wastes from north for short term economic benefits. It has far reaching consequences. The countries of south should understand their responsibility for their people and land. It is only fair to ask the nation which creates the wastes to handle them responsibly.
Official site of Basel Convention : http://www.basel.int
posted by chandrakant at 9:14 AM
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