In mid-February, government representatives from across the African continent will come together in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo to work towards a safe chemicals and waste future.
The Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa (Bamako Convention) is a treaty prohibiting the import into Africa of any hazardous—including radioactive—waste. The Convention was adopted under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity in 1991 and came into force in 1998.
What is the purpose of the Convention?
The Convention aims to protect human and environmental health by:
- prohibiting the import of all hazardous and radioactive wastes into the African continent, no matter the reason;
- minimizing and controlling transboundary movements of hazardous wastes within the African continent;
- prohibiting all ocean and inland water dumping or incineration of hazardous wastes;
- ensuring that disposal of wastes is conducted in an environmentally sound manner;
- promoting cleaner production over the pursuit of a permissible emissions approach based on assimilative capacity assumptions;
- establishing the precautionary principle—a principle expressed in the Rio Declaration which stipulates that, where there are “threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation”.
Why does the Bamako Convention Conference matter?
The Bamako Convention is a solution and an African response to the perceived legal loopholes and weaknesses of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
Original source: UN Environment
Published on 07 February 2020
