h. Governments should ascertain that their militar y 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 ap propriate, 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 strength ening 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 g rounds 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 programm e 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 tech nological 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 increas e 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 nat ional 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 comp lementarity 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 implementat ion
(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. How ever, 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 futur e 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 im plementation 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 waste s 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, particular ly 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.