Political Turmoil Puts India On The Mat Over Basel Convention

India faces a piquant situation when it sends its delegation for the fourth conference of parties (COP-IV) to the Basel Convention being held in Malaysia from February 23 to 27.

It is somewhat obligatory for India to ratify two crucial decisions of the earlier conferences which seek a ban on the movement of hazardous wastes and recyclables between countries. Essentially, however, the thrust is on banning such movements from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries to non-OECD countries, which includes India.

By virtue of being a signatory to the Basel Convention of 1989, these decisions are supposed to be binding on India. Besides, according to sources, the inter-ministerial opinion invited by the ministry of environment and forests on the subject is in favour of the government endorsing these decisions.

 

However, before India makes any such move, it will require a technical clearance from the Union cabinet.

The cabinet clearance has not come so far and the delay is being attributed to the current political uncertainty in the country and the pre-occupation of the Prime Minister and his cabinet with electioneering.

The two-member Indian delegation is led by environment secretary Vishwanath Anand. The other member is Indrani Chandrasekharan, an additional director in the ministry.

There is no representation in the delegation either from the industry or from non-government organizations.

The landmark international convention on the control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal was held in Basel, Switzerland, in 1989. It was adopted by 126 countries, including India, and it came into force in 1992.

Since then three conferences of parties ( COP1, COPII and COPIII) have so far been held and the fourth COPIV is being held in Kuching, Malaysia.

According to reports, the Kuching meet will see most developing countries in favour of endorsing the ban on cross-border movements of hazardous wastes and recyclables. New Delhi had called a regional conference of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) to take up a joint stand on the issue, however, it could not take place for want of the quorum as Bangladesh and Maldives declined to attend.

The meeting will identify the categories of wastes and recyclables that will come under the ban. This would be done on the basis of the report of a technical committee constituted for the purpose.

Informed circles are of the view that if India ratifies the decisions, it will be able to effectively stop the hitherto legal or even clandestine movements of the hazardous toxic wastes into the country.