Critically assess the contribution made by the 1989 UN Convention on Essay

Critically assess the contribution made by the 1989 UN Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and their Dis - Essay Example Greenpeace alerted all the likely ports which repeatedly turned away the ship. It is suspected that ship offloaded the remaining material in Indian Ocean. In November 1986, a Basel based pharmaceutical factory had a fire accident that resulted in an outflow of contaminated water into the Rhine River with some thirty tones of highly toxic material entering the river along with the contaminated water. This led to the Swiss based companies pushing for the Basel Convention so as to reverse the damage to the public relations caused by the contamination. In March 1987, a New York based ship carried 3,186 tons of solid waste and tried in vain to dump the waste in 6 U.S. states. By September 1987, the ship had traveled about 6,000 miles across Mexico, Belize and Bahamas and came back to its own base in New York without being able to unload the cargo of waste anywhere. By June 1987, the UNEP Governing Council in its 14th session brought out Cairo Guidelines and chalked out a programme to conv ene a global convention on the control of transboundary transport of hazardous waste. In June 1987, it was discovered by Greenpeace that traders in waste had tried to export more than 163,000,000 tons of waste by 1986. In August 1987-May 1988, Italian business firm sent eight thousand drums of hazardous chemical waste to a Nigerian port town mislabeling the drums as â€Å"relating to the building trade† and â€Å"residual and allied chemicals†. In their efforts to send the material back to Italy, the Nigerian factory workers experienced severe burns, nausea, vomiting blood and partial paralysis leading to Nigeria to recall its ambassador to Italy .and seized the ships to pressurize Italy to remove the wastes. After series of such incidents, by March 1989 Basel Convention was signed with Greenpeace denouncing it and Africa walking out. The U.S. opposed the ban to developing countries despite repeated requests of developing countries to impose the ban.1 Originally 116 pa rties signed the Convention which provides a global framework for transboundary movement of hazardous waste 2 It is equally concerned about the protection of global environment.3 The Single market in the EU introduced in 1993 regulates transboundary movement of goods including wastes.4 Three aims of the convention With the membership of 170 countries which do not include the U.S.A 5,the Convention’s three main aims are 1) reduction in hazardous waste generation, 2) reduced transboundary movements of hazardous waste and 3) hazardous waste management conducive to environment.6 Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) refers to treatment (management) of hazardous and other wastes in such a manner that human health and environment are protected from the adverse effects of the said wastes.7 In the context of Basel Convention, â€Å"wastes† refer to substances or objects that are disposed of, meant for disposal or those required to be disposed of, under national law. Managemen t in the context of ESM involves collection, transport and disposal of wastes including hazardous ones and the management also includes taking care of sites where the wastes are disposed. Disposal is referred to as actions contemplated under Annexure IV to the Convention document. Transboundary movem