Agenda 21: Chapter 20
ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTES,
INCLUDING PREVENTION OF ILLEGAL INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC IN HAZARDOUS WASTES
20.1. Effective control of the generation, storage, treatment,
recycling and reuse, transport, recovery and disposal of hazardous wastes
is of paramount importance for proper health, environmental protection and
natural resource management, and sustainable development. This will
require the active cooperation and participation of the international
community, Governments and industry. Industry, as referred to in this
paper, shall include large industrial enterprises, including transnational
corporations and domestic industry.
20.2. Prevention of the generation of hazardous wastes and the
rehabilitation of contaminated sites are the key elements, and both
require knowledge, experienced people, facilities, financial resources and
technical and scientific capacities.
20.3. The activities outlined in the present chapter are very closely
related to, and have implications for, many of the programme areas
described in other chapters, so that an overall integrated approach to
hazardous waste management is necessary.
20.4. There is international concern that part of the international
movement of hazardous wastes is being carried out in contravention of
existing national legislation and international instruments to the
detriment of the environment and public health of all countries,
particularly developing countries.
20.5. In section I of resolution 44/226 of 22 December 1989, the
General Assembly requested each regional commission, within existing
resources, to contribute to the prevention of the illegal traffic in toxic
and dangerous products and wastes by monitoring and making regional
assessments of that illegal traffic and its environmental and health
implications. The Assembly also requested the regional commissions to
interact among themselves and cooperate with the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), with a view to maintaining efficient and
coordinated monitoring and assessment of the illegal traffic in toxic and
dangerous products and wastes.
Overall objective
20.6. Within the framework of integrated life-cycle management, the
overall objective is to prevent to the extent possible, and minimize, the
generation of hazardous wastes, as well as to manage those wastes in such
a way that they do not cause harm to health and the environment.
Overall targets
20.7. The overall targets are:
(a) Preventing or minimizing the generation of hazardous wastes as part
of an overall integrated cleaner production approach; eliminating or
reducing to a minimum transboundary movements of hazardous wastes,
consistent with the environmentally sound and efficient management of
those wastes; and ensuring that environmentally sound hazardous waste
management options are pursued to the maximum extent possible within
the country of origin (the self-sufficiency principle). The
transboundary movements that take place should be on environmental and
economic grounds and based upon agreements between the States
concerned;
(b) Ratification of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and the expeditious
elaboration of related protocols, such as the protocol on liability
and compensation, mechanisms and guidelines to facilitate the
implementation of the Basel Convention;
(c) Ratification and full implementation by the countries concerned of
the Bamako Convention on the Ban on the Import into Africa and the
Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes within Africa
and the expeditious elaboration of a protocol on liability and
compensation;
(d) Elimination of the export of hazardous wastes to countries that,
individually or through international agreements, prohibits the import
of such wastes, such as, the contracting parties to the Bamako
Convention, the fourth Lom Convention or other relevant conventions,
where such prohibition is provided for.
20.8. The following programme areas are included in this chapter:
(a) Promoting the prevention and minimization of hazardous waste;
(b) Promoting and strengthening institutional capacities in hazardous
waste management;
(c) Promoting and strengthening international cooperation in the
management of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes;
(d) Preventing illegal international traffic in hazardous wastes.
PROGRAMME AREAS
A. Promoting the prevention and minimization of
hazardous waste
Basis for action
20.9. Human health and environmental quality are undergoing continuous
degradation by the increasing amount of hazardous wastes being produced.
There are increasing direct and indirect costs to society and to
individual citizens in connection with the generation, handling and
disposal of such wastes. It is therefore crucial to enhance knowledge and
information on the economics of prevention and management of hazardous
wastes, including the impact in relation to the employment and
environmental benefits, in order to ensure that the necessary capital
investment is made available in development programmes through economic
incentives. One of the first priorities in hazardous waste management is
minimization, as part of a broader approach to changing industrial
processes and consumer patterns through pollution prevention and cleaner
production strategies.
20.10. Among the most important factors in these strategies is the
recovery of hazardous wastes and their tranformation into useful material.
Technology application, modification and development of new low-waste
technologies are therefore currently a central focus of hazardous waste
minimization.
Objectives
20.11. The objectives of this programme area are:
(a) To reduce the generation of hazardous wastes, to the extent
feasible, as part of an integrated cleaner production approach;
(b) To optimize the use of materials by utilizing, where practicable and
environmentally sound, the residues from production processes;
(c) To enhance knowledge and information on the economics of prevention
and management of hazardous wastes.
20.12. To achieve those objectives, and thereby reduce the impact and
cost of industrial development, countries that can afford to adopt the
requisite technologies without detriment to their development should
establish policies that include:
(a) Integration of cleaner production approaches and hazardous waste
minimization in all planning, and the adoption of specific goals;
(b) Promotion of the use of regulatory and market mechanisms;
(c) Establishment of an intermediate goal for the stabilization of the
quantity of hazardous waste generated;
(d) Establishment of long-term programmes and policies including targets
where appropriate for reducing the amount of hazardous waste produced
per unit of manufacture;
(e) Achievement of a qualitative improvement of waste streams, mainly
through activities aimed at reducing their hazardous characteristics;
(f) Facilitation of the establishment of cost-effective policies and
approaches to hazardous waste prevention and management, taking into
consideration the state of development of each country.
Activities
A) Management-related activities
20.13. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Governments should establish or modify standards or purchasing
specifications to avoid discrimination against recycled materials,
provided that those materials are environmentally sound;
(b) Governments, according to their possibilities and with the help of
multilateral cooperation, should provide economic or regulatory
incentives, where appropriate, to stimulate industrial innovation
towards cleaner production methods, to encourage industry to invest in
preventive and/or recycling technologies so as to ensure
environmentally sound management of all hazardous wastes, including
recyclable wastes, and to encourage waste minimization investments;
(c) Governments should intensify research and development activities on
cost-effective alternatives for processes and substances that
currently result in the generation of hazardous wastes that pose
particular problems for environmentally sound disposal or treatment,
the possibility of ultimate phase-out of those substances that present
an unreasonable or otherwise unmanageable risk and are toxic,
persistent and bio-accumulative to be considered as soon as
practicable. Emphasis should be given to alternatives that could be
economically accessible to developing countries;
(d) Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations and industries, as appropriate, should support the
establishment of domestic facilities to handle hazardous wastes of
domestic origin;
(e) Governments of developed countries should promote the transfer of
environmentally sound technologies and know-how on clean technologies
and low-waste production to developing countries in conformity with
chapter 34, which will bring about changes to sustain innovation.
Governments should cooperate with industry to develop guidelines and
codes of conduct, where appropriate, leading to cleaner production
through sectoral trade industry associations;
(f) Governments should encourage industry to treat, recycle, reuse and
dispose of wastes at the source of generation, or as close as possible
thereto, whenever hazardous waste generation is unavoidable and when
it is both economically and environmentally efficient for industry to
do so;
(g) Governments should encourage technology assessments, for example
through the use of technology assessment centres;
(h) Governments should promote cleaner production through the
establishment of centres providing training and information on
environmentally sound technologies;
(i) Industry should establish environmental management systems,
including environmental auditing of its production or distribution
sites, in order to identify where the installation of cleaner
production methods is needed;
(j) A relevant and competent United Nations organization should take the
lead, in cooperation with other organizations, to develop guidelines
for estimating the costs and benefits of various approaches to the
adoption of cleaner production and waste minimization and
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, including
rehabilitation of contaminated sites, taking into account, where
appropriate, the report of the 1991 Nairobi meeting of
government-designated experts on an international strategy and an
action programme, including technical guidelines for the
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes; in particular in
the context of the work of the Basel Convention, being developed under
the UNEP secretariat;
(k) Governments should establish regulations that lay down the ultimate
responsibility of industries for environmentally sound disposal of the
hazardous wastes their activities generate.
B) Data and information
20.14. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Governments, assisted by international organizations, should
establish mechanisms for assessing the value of existing information
systems;
(b) Governments should establish nationwide and regional information
collection and dissemination clearing-houses and networks that are
easy for Government institutions and industry and other
non-governmental organizations to access and use;
(c) International organizations, through the UNEP Cleaner Production
programme and ICPIC, should extend and strengthen existing systems for
collection of cleaner production information;
(d) All United Nations organs and organizations should promote the use
and dissemination of information collected through the Cleaner
Production network;
(e) OECD should, in cooperation with other organizations, undertake a
comprehensive survey of, and disseminate information on, experiences
of member countries in adopting economic regulatory schemes and
incentive mechanisms for hazardous waste management and for the use of
clean technologies that prevent such waste from being generated;
(f) Governments should encourage industries to be transparent in their
operations and provide relevant information to the communities that
might be affected by the generation, management and disposal of
hazardous wastes.
C) International and regional cooperation and coordination
20.15. International/regional cooperation should encourage the
ratification by States of the Basel and Bamako Conventions and promote the
implementation of those Conventions. Regional cooperation will be
necessary for the development of similar conventions in regions other than
Africa, if so required. In addition there is a need for effective
coordination of international regional and national policies and
instruments. Another activity proposed is cooperating in monitoring the
effects of the management of hazardous wastes.
Means of implementation
A) Financing and cost evaluation
20.16. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total
annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme
to be about $750 million from the international community on grant or
concessional terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates
only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial
terms, including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter
alia, the specific strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for
implementation.
(b) Scientific and technological means
20.17. The following activities related to technology development and
research should be undertaken:
(a) Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations, and industries, as appropriate, should significantly
increase financial support for cleaner technology research and
development programmes, including the use of biotechnologies;
(b) States, with the cooperation of international organizations where
appropriate, should encourage industry to promote and undertake
research into the phase-out of the processes that pose the greatest
environmental risk based on hazardous wastes generated;
(c) States should encourage industry to develop schemes to integrate the
cleaner production approach into design of products and management
practices;
(d) States should encourage industry to exercise environmentally
responsible care through hazardous waste reduction and by ensuring the
environmentally sound reuse, recycling and recovery of hazardous
wastes, as well as their final disposal.
C) Human resource development
20.18. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Governments, international organizations and industry should
encourage industrial training programmes, incorporating hazardous
waste prevention and minimization techniques and launching
demonstration projects at the local level to develop "success
stories" in cleaner production;
(b) Industry should integrate cleaner production principles and case
examples into training programmes and establish demonstration
projects/networks by sector/country;
(c) All sectors of society should develop cleaner production awareness
campaigns and promote dialogue and partnership with industry and other
actors.
D) Capacity-building
20.19. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Governments of developing countries, in cooperation with industry
and with the cooperation of appropriate international organizations,
should develop inventories of hazardous waste production, in order to
identify their needs with respect to technology transfer and
implementation of measures for the sound management of hazardous
wastes and their disposal;
(b) Governments should include in national planning and legislation an
integrated approach to environmental protection, driven by prevention
and source reduction criteria, taking into account the "polluter
pays" principle, and adopt programmes for hazardous waste
reduction, including targets and adequate environmental control;
(c) Governments should work with industry on sector-by-sector cleaner
production and hazardous waste minimization campaigns, as well as on
the reduction of such wastes and other emissions;
(d) Governments should take the lead in establishing and strengthening,
as appropriate, national procedures for environmental impact
assessment, taking into acount the cradle-to-grave approach to the
management of hazardous wastes, in order to identify options for
minimizing the generation of hazardous wastes, through safer handling,
storage, disposal and destruction;
(e) Governments, in collaboration with industry and appropriate
international organizations, should develop procedures for monitoring
the application of the cradle to grave approach, including
environmental audits;
(f) Bilateral and multilateral development assistance agencies should
substantially increase funding for cleaner technology transfer to
developing countries, including small- and medium-sized enterprises.
B. Promoting and strengthening institutional
capacities in hazardous waste management
Basis for action
20.20. Many countries lack the national capacity to handle and manage
hazardous wastes. This is primarily due to inadequate infrastructure,
deficiencies in regulatory frameworks, insufficient education and training
programmes and lack of coordination between the different ministries and
institutions involved in various aspects of waste management. In addition,
there is a lack of knowledge about environmental contamination and
pollution and the associated health risk from the exposure of populations,
especially women and children, and ecosystems to hazardous wastes;
assessment of risks; and the characteristics of wastes. Steps need to be
taken immediately to identify populations at high risk and to take
remedial measures, where necessary. One of the main priorities in ensuring
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes is to provide
awareness, education and training programmes covering all levels of
society. There is also a need to undertake research programmes to
understand the nature of hazardous wastes, to identify their potential
environmental effects and to develop technologies to safely handle those
wastes. Finally, there is a need to strengthen the capacities of
institutions that are responsible for the management of hazardous wastes.
Objectives
20.21. The objectives in this programme area are:
(a) To adopt appropriate coordinating, legislative and regulatory
measures at the national level for the environmentally sound
management of hazardous wastes, including the implementation of
international and regional conventions;
(b) To establish public awareness and information programmes on
hazardous waste issues and to ensure that basic education and training
programmes are provided for industry and government workers in all
countries;
(c) To establish comprehensive research programmes on hazardous wastes
in countries;
(d) To strengthen service industries to enable them to handle hazardous
wastes, and to build up international networking;
(e) To develop endogenous capacities in all developing countries to
educate and train staff at all levels in environmentally sound
hazardous waste handling and monitoring and in environmentally sound
management;
(f) To promote human exposure assessment with respect to hazardous waste
sites and identify the remedial measures required;
(g) To facilitate the assessment of impacts and risks of hazardous
wastes on human health and the environment by establishing appropriate
procedures, methodologies, criteria and/or effluent-related guidelines
and standards;
(h) To improve knowledge regarding the effects of hazardous wastes on
human health and the environment;
(i) To make information available to Governments and to the general
public on the effects of hazardous wastes, including infectious
wastes, on human health and the environment.
Activities
A) Management-related activities
20.22. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Governments should establish and maintain inventories, including
computerized inventories, of hazardous wastes and their
treatment/disposal sites, as well as of contaminated sites that
require rehabilitation, and assess exposure and risk to human health
and the environment; they should also identify the measures required
to clean up the disposal sites. Industry should make the necessary
information available;
(b) Governments, industry and international organizations should
collaborate in developing guidelines and easy-to-implement methods for
the characterization and classification of hazardous wastes;
(c) Governments should carry out exposure and health assessments of
populations residing near uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and
initiate remedial measures;
(d) International organizations should develop improved health-based
criteria, taking into account national decision-making processes, and
assist in the preparation of practical technical guidelines for the
prevention, minimization and safe handling and disposal of hazardous
wastes;
(e) Governments of developing countries should encourage
interdisciplinary and intersectoral groups, in cooperation with
international organizations and agencies, to implement training and
research activities related to evaluation, prevention and control of
hazardous waste health risks. Such groups should serve as models to
develop similar regional programmes;
(f) Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations as appropriate, should encourage as far as possible the
establishment of combined treatment/disposal facilities for hazardous
wastes in small- and medium-sized industries;
(g) Governments should promote identification and clean-up of sites of
hazardous wastes in collaboration with industry and international
organizations. Technologies, expertise and financing should be
available for this purpose, as far as possible and when appropriate
with the application of the "polluter pays" principle;
(h) Governments should ascertain that their military establishments
conform to their nationally applicable environmental norms in the
treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes.
B) Data and information
20.23. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Governments, international and regional organizations and industry
should facilitate and expand the dissemination of technical and
scientific information dealing with the various health aspects of
hazardous wastes, and promote its application;
(b) Governments should establish notification systems and registries of
exposed populations and of adverse health effects and databases on
risk assessments of hazardous wastes;
(c) Governments should endeavour to collect information on those who
generate or dispose/recycle hazardous wastes and provide such
information to the individuals and institutions concerned.
C) International and regional cooperation and coordination
20.24. Governments, according to their capacities and available
resources and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other
relevant organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) Promote and support the integration and operation, at the regional
and local levels as appropriate, of institutional and
interdisciplinary groups that collaborate, according to their
capabilities, in activities oriented towards strengthening risk
assessment, risk management and risk reduction with respect to
hazardous wastes;
(b) Support capacity-building and technological development and research
in developing countries in connection with human resource development,
with particular support to be given to consolidating networks;
(c) Encourage self-sufficiency in hazardous waste disposal in the
country of origin to the extent environmentally sound and feasible.
The transboundary movements that take place should be on environmental
and economic grounds and based upon agreements between all States
concerned.
Means of implementation
A) Financing and cost evaluation
20.25. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total
annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme
to be about $18.5 billion on a global basis with about $3.5 billion
related to developing countries, including about $500 million from the
international community on grant or concessional terms. These are
indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been
reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any
that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific
strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.
B) Scientific and technological means
20.26. The following activities should be undertaken:
(a) Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations and industry as appropriate, should increase support for
hazardous waste research management in developing countries;
(b) Governments, in collaboration with international organizations,
should conduct research on the health effects of hazardous wastes in
developing countries, including the long-term effects on children and
women;
(c) Governments should conduct research aimed at the needs of small and
medium-sized industries;
(d) Governments and international organizations in cooperation with
industry should expand technological research on environmentally sound
hazardous waste handling, storage, transport, treatment and disposal
and on hazardous waste assessment, management and remediation;
(e) International organizations should identify relevant and improved
technologies for handling, storage, treatment and disposal of
hazardous wastes.
C) Human resource development
20.27. Governments, according to their capacities and available
resources and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other
relevant organizations and industry as appropriate, should:
(a) Increase public awareness and information on hazardous waste issues
and promote the development and dissemination of hazardous wastes
information that the general public can understand;
(b) Increase participation in hazardous waste management programmes by
the general public, particularly women, including participation at
grass-roots levels;
(c) Develop training and education programmes for men and women in
industry and Government aimed at specific real-life problems, for
example, planning and implementing hazardous waste minimization
programmes, conducting hazardous materials audits and establishing
appropriate regulatory programmes;
(d) Promote the training of labour, industrial management and government
regulatory staff in developing countries on technologies to minimize
and manage hazardous wastes in an environmentally sound manner.
20.28. The following activities should also be undertaken:
(a) Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations, other organizations
and non-governmental organizations, should collaborate in developing
and disseminating educational materials concerning hazardous wastes
and their effects on environment and human health, for use in schools,
by women's groups and by the general public;
(b) Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other
organizations, should establish or strengthen programmes for the
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes in accordance
with, as appropriate, health and environmental standards, and extend
surveillance systems for the purpose of identifying adverse effects on
populations and the environment of exposure to hazardous wastes;
(c) International organizations should provide assistance to member
States in assessing the health and environmental risks resulting from
exposure to hazardous wastes, and in identifying their priorities for
controlling the various categories or classes of wastes;
(d) Governments, according to their capacities and available resources
and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other relevant
organizations, should promote centres of excellence for training in
hazardous waste management, building on appropriate national
institutions and encouraging international cooperation, inter alia,
through institutional links between developed and developing
countries.
D) Capacity-building
20.29. Wherever they operate, transnational corporations and other
large-scale enterprises should be encouraged to introduce policies and
make commitments to adopt standards of operation with reference to
hazardous waste generation and disposal that are equivalent to or no less
stringent than standards in the country of origin, and Governments are
invited to make efforts to establish regulations requiring environmentally
sound management of hazardous wastes.
20.30. International organizations should provide assistance to member
States in assessing the health and environmental risks resulting from
exposure to hazardous wastes and in identifying their priorities for
controlling the various categories or classes of wastes.
20.31. Governments, according to their capacities and available
resources and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other
relevant organizations and industries, should:
(a) Support national institutions in dealing with hazardous wastes from
the regulatory monitoring and enforcement perspectives, with such
support including enabling of those institutions to implement
international conventions;
(b) Develop industry-based institutions for dealing with hazardous
wastes and service industries for handling hazardous wastes;
(c) Adopt technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management
of hazardous wastes and support the implementation of regional and
international conventions;
(d) Develop and expand international networking among professionals
working in the area of hazardous wastes and maintain an information
flow among countries;
(e) Assess the feasibility of establishing and operating national,
subregional and regional hazardous wastes treatment centres. Such
centres could be used for education and training, as well as for
facilitation and promotion of the transfer of technologies for the
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes;
(f) Identify and strengthen relevant academic/research institutions or
centres for excellence to enable them to carry out education and
training activities in the environmentally sound management of
hazardous wastes;
(g) Develop a programme for the establishment of national capacities and
capabilities to educate and train staff at various levels in hazardous
wastes management;
(h) Conduct environmental audits of existing industries to improve
in-plant regimes for the management of hazardous wastes.
C. Promoting and strengthening international
cooperation in the management of transboundary movements of hazardous
wastes
Basis for action
20.32. In order to promote and strengthen international cooperation in
the management, including control and monitoring, of transboundary
movements of hazardous wastes, a precautionary approach should be applied.
There is a need to harmonize the procedures and criteria used in various
international and legal instruments. There is also a need to develop or
harmonize existing criteria for identifying wastes dangerous to the
environment and to build monitoring capacities.
Objectives
20.33. The objectives of this programme area are:
(a) To facilitate and strengthen international cooperation in the
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, including
control and monitoring of transboundary movements of such wastes,
including wastes for recovery, by using internationally adopted
criteria to identify and classify hazardous wastes and to harmonize
relevant international legal instruments;
(b) To adopt a ban on or prohibit, as appropriate, the export of
hazardous wastes to countries that do not have the capacity to deal
with those wastes in an environmentally sound way or that have banned
the import of such wastes;
(c) To promote the development of control procedures for the
transboundary movement of hazardous wastes destined for recovery
operations under the Basel Convention that encourage environmentally
and economically sound recycling options.
Activities
A) Management-related activities
Strengthening and harmonizing criteria and regulations
20.34. Governments, according to their capacities and available
resources and with the cooperation of United Nations and other relevant
organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) Incorporate the notification procedure called for in the Basel
Convention and relevant regional conventions, as well as in their
annexes, into national legislation;
(b) Formulate, where appropriate, regional agreements such as the Bamako
Convention regulating the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes;
(c) Help promote the compatibility and complementarity of such regional
agreements with international conventions and protocols;
(d) Strengthen national and regional capacities and capabilities to
monitor and control the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes;
(e) Promote the development of clear criteria and guidelines, within the
framework of the Basel Convention and regional conventions, as
appropriate, for environmentally and economically sound operation in
resource recovery, recycling reclamation, direct use or alternative
uses and for determination of acceptable recovery practices, including
recovery levels where feasible and appropriate, with a view to
preventing abuses and false presentation in the above operations;
(g) Consider setting up, at national and regional levels, as
appropriate, systems for monitoring and surveillance of the
transboundary movements of hazardous wastes;
(h) Develop guidelines for the assessment of environmentally sound
treatment of hazardous wastes;
(i) Develop guidelines for the identification of hazardous wastes at the
national level, taking into account existing internationally - and,
where appropriate, regionally - agreed criteria and prepare a list of
hazard profiles for the hazardous wastes listed in national
legislation;
(j) Develop and use appropriate methods for testing, characterizing and
classifying hazardous wastes and adopt or adapt safety standards and
principles for managing hazardous wastes in an environmentally sound
way.
Implementing existing agreements
20.35. Governments are urged to ratify the Basel Convention and the
Bamako Convention, as applicable, and to pursue the expeditious
elaboration of related protocols, such as protocols on liability and
compensation, and of mechanisms and guidelines to facilitate the
implementation of the Conventions.
Means of implementation
A) Financing and cost evaluation
20.36. Because this programme area covers a relatively new field of
operation and because of the lack so far of adequate studies on costing of
activities under this programme, no cost estimate is available at present.
However, the costs for some of the activities related to capacity-building
that are presented under this programme could be considered to have been
covered under the costing of programme area B above.
20.37. The interim secretariat for the Basel Convention should
undertake studies in order to arrive at a reasonable cost estimate for
activities to be undertaken initially until the year 2000.
B) Capacity-building
20.38. Governments, according to their capacities and available
resources and with the cooperation of United Nations and other relevant
organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) Elaborate or adopt policies for the environmentally sound management
of hazardous wastes, taking into account existing international
instruments;
(b) Make recommendations to the appropriate forums or establish or adapt
norms, including the equitable implementation of the polluter pays
principle, and regulatory measures to comply with obligations and
principles of the Basel Convention, the Bamako Convention and other
relevant existing or future agreements, including protocols, as
appropriate, for setting appropriate rules and procedures in the field
of liability and compensation for damage resulting from the
transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous wastes;
(c) Implement policies for the implementation of a ban or prohibition,
as appropriate, of exports of hazardous wastes to countries that do
not have the capacity to deal with those wastes in an environmentally
sound way or that have banned the import of such wastes;
(d) Study, in the context of the Basel Convention and relevant regional
conventions, the feasibility of providing temporary financial
assistance in the case of an emergency situation, in order to minimize
damage from accidents arising from transboundary movements of
hazardous wastes or during the disposal of those wastes.
D. Preventing illegal international traffic in
hazardous wastes
Basis for action
20.39. The prevention of illegal traffic in hazardous wastes will
benefit the environment and public health in all countries, particularly
developing countries. It will also help to make the Basel Convention and
regional international instruments, such as the Bamako Convention and the
fourth Lom Convention, more effective by promoting compliance with the
controls established in those agreements. Article IX of the Basel
Convention specifically addresses the issue of illegal shipments of
hazardous wastes. Illegal traffic of hazardous wastes may cause serious
threats to human health and the environment and impose a special and
abnormal burden on the countries that receive such shipments.
20.40. Effective prevention requires action through effective
monitoring and the enforcement and imposition of appropriate penalties.
Objectives
20.41. The objectives of this programme area are:
(a) To reinforce national capacities to detect and halt any illegal
attempt to introduce hazardous wastes into the territory of any State
in contravention of national legislation and relevant international
legal instruments;
(b) To assist all countries, particularly developing countries, in
obtaining all appropriate information concerning illegal traffic in
hazardous wastes;
(c) To cooperate, within the framework of the Basel Convention, in
assisting countries that suffer the consequences of illegal traffic.
Activities
A) Management-related activities
20.42. Governments, according to their capacities and available
resources and with the cooperation of the United Nations and other
relevant organizations, as appropriate, should:
(a) Adopt, where necessary, and implement legislation to prevent the
illegal import and export of hazardous wastes;
(b) Develop appropriate national enforcement programmes to monitor
compliance with such legislation, detect and deter violations through
appropriate penalties and give special attention to those who are
known to have conducted illegal traffic in hazardous wastes and to
hazardous wastes that are particularly susceptible to illegal traffic.
B) Data and information
20.43. Governments should develop as appropriate, an information
network and alert system to assist in detecting illegal traffic in
hazardous wastes. Local communities and others could be involved in the
operation of such a network and system.
20.44. Governments should cooperate in the exchange of information on
illegal transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and should make such
information available to appropriate United Nations bodies such as UNEP
and the regional commissions.
(C International and regional cooperation
20.45. The regional commissions, in cooperation with and relying upon
expert support and advice from UNEP and other relevant bodies of the
United Nations system, taking full account of the Basel Convention, shall
continue to monitor and assess the illegal traffic in hazardous wastes,
including its environmental, economic and health implications, on a
continuing basis, drawing upon the results and experience gained in the
joint UNEP/ESCAP preliminary assessment of illegal traffic.
20.46. Countries and international organizations, as appropriate,
should cooperate to strengthen the institutional and regulatory
capacities, in particular of developing countries, in order to prevent the
illegal import and export of hazardous wastes.
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