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Distr.
GENERAL
A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. II)
13 August 1992
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
(Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992)
Chapter 20
ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT OF HAZARDOUS WASTES,
INCLUDING PREVENTION OF ILLEGAL INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC
IN HAZARDOUS WASTES
INTRODUCTION
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;
(f) Consider setting up, at national and regional levels, as
appropriate, systems for monitoring and surveillance of the
transboundary movements of hazardous wastes;
(g) Develop guidelines for the assessment of environmentally
sound treatment of hazardous wastes;
(h) 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;
(i) 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.
END OF CHAPTER 20