POPs IN AFRICA HAZARDOUS WASTE TRADE 1980 - 2000 ... - Arte

The POPs treaty
With these destructive practices banned under international law,
the environmental and human health will greatly benefit. And,
with these cheap disposal methods closed off, industries
generating hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals will have much
greater incentive to implement clean production methods that do
not result in the use and release of toxic substances in the
environment.
The subsequent issue in need of global focus, and continued
African leadership was, and is the issue of Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs). Under the auspices of the UNEP, the
international community began negotiating a global treaty in
1998 to ban the worst of the toxic chemicals. To be adopted in
May 2001 in Stockholm, the POPs treaty includes necessary
provisions that resulted, to a large extent, due to the continuing
political leadership that Africa, among others, has provided.
After five official Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee
meetings (INCs) to draft the POPs Convention, the international
community, led by Africa (and other developing countries with
China), and the European Union (EU) have moved in the right
direction to produce a treaty for the purpose of preventing new
POPs and eliminating existing POPs. The POPs treaty, or
Stockholm Convention will now depend on the necessary
political and industrial will to ensure its expeditious and effective
implementation.
But leadership and strong resolve was again necessary during
the final negotiations of the POPs treaty in order to produce the
provisions capable of adequately addressing the toxics crisis.
The same political dynamic existed in the POPs context as in the
other issues, e.g., waste trade discussed above. A few wealthy
industrialised countries led by the US continued to attempt to
create a weak ineffective draft text at the expense of our future.
Fortunately, the will and resolve of the majority of States led by
the EU and Africa prevailed over these few industrialised
governments unwilling to make the needed changes toward
sustainable development.
In addition to the POPs treaty having the potential to phase out
all POPs, it provides an opportunity to mobilise the international
community to finally address and solve the legacy and on-going
crisis of obsolete pesticide stockpiles, a significant portion of
which are POPs.
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