The Basel Convention - Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal :: Politics Environment Environmental

The Basel blueprint on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their DisposalAbstractOn March 22, 1989, leading from 105 nations unanimously adopted the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal. The Basel Convention is the first international convention to control the export of baseless and other wastes. Since the Convention celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1999, it is an appropriate time for an appraisal of how the Basel Convention has affected international trade of equivocal waste. To fully understand the Basel Convention and its ramifications, it is first critical to comprehend the damage caused by hazardous waste. Second, an analysis of the Basel Convention and its criticisms be explored. Next, an examination of the Basel Ban and its significance are presented. Then, the implications for recycling in relation to the Basel Ban are discussed. Finally, trine important lessons to take from the con vention are provided. It is a grave abuse and an offence against the solidarity of benignity when industrial enterprises of rich countries profit from the weak economies and legislation of poorer countries by exporting dirty technologies and wastes which degrade the environment and health of the population.--- Pope John Paul II, October 22, 1993 On March 22, 1989, after 18 months of intense negotiations, leaders from 105 nations unanimously adopted a treaty restricting shipments and dumpings of hazardous wastes across national borders. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), is the first international convention to control the export of hazardous industrial wastes (Ruloff, 1989). A driving force behind the convention is the steady increase in international trade of hazardous waste over the outgoing decade. There is a growing number of temptin g, but environmentally questionable waste disposal contracts being offered and taken by nations (Ruloff, 1989). To combat this trend, the convention has three main objectives to reduce transboundary movement of hazardous waste while minimizing their generation to promote the disposal of such wastes as close as possible to their places of declension and to prohibit the shipment of hazardous wastes to countries lacking the legal, administrative, and technical capacity to manage them in an environmentally sound manner. Since the Convention celebrates its 10th anniversary in celestial latitude 1999, it is an appropriate time for an appraisal of how the Basel Convention has effected international trade of hazardous waste.