Keep your waste
A GLOBAL ban on the export of toxic wastes now means that industrialised nations can no longer get ship them off to the Third World and sit pretty. The loopholes that had rendered the Basel Convention on the "control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal" a big joke have been removed. The prohibition also covers materials exported to developing nations for recycling -- a clause that the North fought ferociously to veto. "It is indeed a historic step," enthused Chris Lamb, the Australian delegate, who chaired the conference to tighten up the convention held in Geneva in the last week of March.
The decision came after five days of wrangling amongst the representatives of the 64 member states which had ratified the Basel Convention in 1989. The loosely-structured convention had sparked off heated debates all over the world.
Environmental groups like Greenpeace maintained that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, who together account for 98 per cent of global waste, are raking in huge profits by poisoning their poorer counterparts in Asia, where fewer environmental safeguards make disposal costs considerably lower. Greenpeace campaigner Kevin Stairs, camping in Geneva while the conference was in progress, warned, "If the industrialised countries resist a total ban, world environment will be saturated by toxic chemicals."
The Group of 77 developing nations, led by Sri Lanka and China, was also determined to make its presence felt. "We have passed the critical tipping point and are on the verge of taking a momentous decision and we have no doubt that we will carry it," said Devanesan Nesiah, the Sri Lankan environmental officer. The Danish environment minister, Svend Auken, also played a key role by vehemently promoting the proposal put forward by his government for a watertight ban on the export of toxic wastes by the end of 1996.
One major stumbling block still remains: the US is yet to make a firm commitment to the amended treaty. It was present at Geneva as an observer and the leader of the US delegation, Rafe Pomerance, has said that it is too early to predict the reaction of the American Congress.
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