Environment
Tackling Hazardous Chemicals and Wastes
Reach for any travel brochures and the images of the Pacific are almost uniformly stunning: pristine beaches, sun and good times beckon travellers to our shores to enjoy what our islands have to offer and relax to our unique rhythm of life.
Beyond these postcard images, however, lurks what the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) refers to as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The POPs themselves possess toxic properties and are tough customers to remove. Not only are they resistant to degradation, they can accumulate rapidly, move easily through air and water, and travel with migratory species across international boundaries, invading ecosystems on both land and sea. Fortunately, a number of Pacific islands countries have taken the initiative about the threat being posed to human health and the environment and how this can be overcome.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
 |
|
|
This was underlined by the 10 Pacific states (Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu) that have joined the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Under the convention, our island states aim to completely rid their homes of these pollutants, by applying national implementation plans to ensure what is happening now will not reoccur in the future. It was particularly pleasing that our kinsmen in Tonga and Vanuatu were able to become signatories just days before the final deadline elapsed.
The Stockholm Convention is the product of negotiations over about six years beginning in 1995, when the first draft was put together. This led to a series of meetings across the globe so that experts from the international community could hammer out priorities and likely solutions in dealing with POPs. The final draft document was adopted in May last year. In total 151 countries have joined the Convention and nine have ratified, including three from this region. However, the dangers these chemicals pose to the Pacific are fairly well documented.
In an AusAID-funded report released by SPREP two years ago, chemical stockpiles in more than 50 contaminated sites were identified in 13 Pacific islands countries. Those stockpiles include oil in old electric power transformers, which can contain toxic chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, old pesticides, and timber treatment wastes. The PCBs are known to contain a lethal cancer-causing chemical that can affect both human and animal life. The contaminated sites are the result of poor storage, or disposal of hazardous materials. Although there are some facilities in the region that are up to standard, they are more often the exception than the norm. Correcting this situation cannot come soon enough.
Many of the waste chemicals can only be safely disposed off using high-tech treatment facilities, which are not available in Pacific islands countries. These wastes will have to be packed into special containers and shipped outside the region. SPREP is currently well into the preparations for this clean-up and disposal operation, with financial support from UNEP Chemicals and AusAID.
The Stockholm Convention offers funding of up to US$500,00 to address national waste problems through the Global Environment Facility, the official funding agents. Already about US$2 million is being put to use by four Pacific states in the region in assisting with the development of their national implementation plans. The other six signatories are now in line to tap into this funding as well. Moreover, I believe the whole approach being demonstrated here by the Pacific is an encouraging sign of a growing maturity to addressing regional issues head on, coupled with a willingness, perhaps not seen before in this field, to taking responsibility for our own circumstances.
While the Stockholm Convention will go a long way to putting the brakes on the volume of POPs being off loaded at a port near you, the region has not been idle in getting islands states to agree on ways of limiting the transboundary movement of hazardous and radioactive wastes. With ten signatories required for the Waigani Convention (that specifically targets what gets shipped where in our region) now on board, we have some clear indications from these island states that the chances of dumping radioactive or nuclear wastes in this part of the world will remain small.
The tie in with both the Stockholm and Basel Conventions puts the Pacific in a favourable position to counter the amount of pollutants and wastes being transported and stored here; by employing sound management systems and entrusting local authorities to research and implement the strategies needed to get the job done.
The article is written by Tamari¹i Tutangata. He is the Director of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) based in Apia.
