UN says lack of resources hampers efforts to halt flow of toxic waste to poor countries

Enlarge Photo UN says lack of resources hampers efforts to halt flow of toxic waste to poor...

Wed, Jun 25 07:17 PM

BALI, Indonesia (AP) _ When it was adopted in 1989, the Basel Convention was seen as the best hope for stemming the flow of toxic waste into the world's poorest nations. But delegates and activists meeting this week to discuss strengthening the pact said it has failed to deliver on those lofty expectations.

They said Wednesday that a shortage of money, a lack of political will and the absence of key players like the United States at the table has undermined the agreement and allowed used computers, cell phones and toxic waste from the West to continue flowing into Africa and Asia. "It's worse than it has ever been," said Jim Puckett, coordinator of the Seattle-based Basel Action Network, or BAN. Puckett said he made a trip to the southeastern Chinese town of Guiyu three weeks ago and saw villagers recycling precious metals from piles of used cell phones and computer hard drives in dangerous and unhealthy conditions.

Puckett along with delegates from Africa and China place part of the blame for the growing waste problem on the United States, which is the only major economic power not to approve the U.N.-administered Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. The United States takes a tough line on waste disposal within its boundaries, they say, while allowing recyclers to legally send electronic waste and other toxic materials abroad to China and other developing countries.

"The U.S. routinely allows massive exports of toxic e-waste to countries it knows prohibit such imports," Puckett said Wednesday. American delegates said it was unfair to single them out since the transport of waste is global in nature.

They appear to have found an ally in the United Nations, which argues the failure to control toxic waste is due to lax enforcement by some importing countries. Many lack the funds or the manpower to police their own borders, it said.

"The problem lies in the lack of interest and lack of resources on the issue at all levels," convention Executive Secretary Katharina Kummer Peiry said, adding that the convention's own funding has declined in recent years and its 14 regional centers that provide training and technical support lack the necessary funding and infrastructure. "Waste management is not something one wants to talk about," she said.

"It's not attractive as an issue and usually at the bottom of the political agenda in terms of environmental management." The extent of the problem was illustrated in 2006, when hundreds of tons of toxic waste were dumped around Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan, killing at least 10 people and sickening tens of thousands more.

The waste came from a tanker chartered by the multibillion-dollar Dutch commodities trading company Trafigura Beheer BV, which turned to Africa after disposal costs in Amsterdam were deemed too expensive. The ship found a local company in Ivory Coast that agreed to dispose of the waste.

But it lacked proper facilities and allegedly dumped the waste around the city at night. Trafigura has agreed to pay 152 million (US$236 million) to the Ivorian government but has denied responsibility.

Critics including many African delegates and BAN say the Ivory Coast case highlighted the limitations of the convention. Others point to China, which has failed to stem the flow of hazardous waste despite signing onto the convention and outlawing toxic imports.

About 70 percent of the 20 million to 50 million tons of electronic waste produced globally each year is dumped in China, a trend that is driven by a lack of enforcement and outright corruption among customs officials. Although the convention requires a country to seek the consent of another government when exporting waste and allows a country to ban the import of waste, it stops short of an outright export ban.

An amendment calling for a ban was first proposed in 1995, but not enough of the convention's 170 member countries have ratified it. A ban is likely to be debated in Bali on Thursday when environmental ministers begin discussing measures to strengthen the convention.

The meeting ends Friday. Without a ban, activists warned the convention would become little more than a paper tiger and African delegates said their countries may be forced to look elsewhere for relief.

"There is a need to reduce export of toxic waste into Africa. It's causing a lot of health problems, environment problem," said Dr.

O.O. Dada, director of Nigeria's Department of Pollution Control and Environmental Health. "The region is wondering why we have to do this when we have our own problems.

" Opponents including the United States said the ban would be unfair to developing countries that have established environmentally sound recycling industries. They said a country's capacity to handle the waste rather than its level of development should determine whether it can import the materials.

But supporters including the European Union and Indonesia, which have endorsed the ban, said it would ensure exporters take responsibility for their own hazardous waste. "If you want to make money, why don't you make money on something else and not hazardous waste," said Agus Purnomo, who is heading Indonesia's delegation.

"Even the transport poses risks. This is hazardous waste.

We need to put at the top the safety of the population and the environment.".

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