The present publication compiles the decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention at their sixth (2002), seventh (2004), eighth (2006), ninth (2008) and tenth (2011) meetings. It also includes the omnibus decision adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention at the first simultaneous extraordinary meetings of the conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions (2010).

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From generation to disposal, waste is a by-product of societal dynamics, and all too often absent from our consideration. Vital Waste Graphics 3 seeks to put waste in context by:

• looking at some of the forces driving global trends;
• examining various concerns and the strategies developed to address them;
• considering the difficulties encountered in implementing these strategies.

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Compilation of decisions related to enhancing cooperation and coordination among the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions

The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions are distinct and legally autonomous multilateral environmental agreements that share the common objective of protecting human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals and wastes for the promotion of sustainable development. To achieve this common goal, the conferences of the Parties to these three conventions have over the years adopted a series of decisions aiming at enhancing cooperation and coordination among the conventions. Thus, a framework for the so-called “synergies process” has been set.

The present publication compiles the decisions taken by Parties to the three conventions between 2005 and 2011 and provides a brief overview of the background and the development of the decisions.

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Information Communication Technology (ICT) has revolutionized modern living, international business, global governance, communication, entertainment, transport, education, and health care. This has been driven by unprecedented high volumes of production and usage of consumer electronic products, in particular, personal computers, mobile phones, and television sets. Access to ICT has been identified as an indicator of a country’s economic and social development. The difference in access to ICT between developed and developing countries is commonly referred to as the “digital divide”. Africa has been undergoing rapid ICT transformation in recent years, attempting to bridge this divide by importing second-hand or used computers, mobile phones, and TV sets from developed countries. The countries of the region, however, lack the infrastructure and resources for the environmentally sound management (ESM) of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) arising when such imports  reach their end-of-life.

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Examples of successful activities undertaken to implement the multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and other international frameworks in the hazardous wastes and chemicals cluster in a coordinated manner. The stories are based on national or regional projects and have been written by persons directly involved in activities at the national, regional and global levels.

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The reported data on transboundary movements provide a rather good picture of the amounts of hazardous and other wastes generated and subject to transboundary movements globally. The following analysis shows that there has been progress on a number of issues addressed by the Convention, in particular in relation to the following points:

• Transboundary movements are increasing, but the vast majority of hazardous and other wastes is still treated within the country of origin and if waste is exported it stays, in most cases, within the same geographical region - in line with the principle of reducing to a minimum transboundary movements;
• Most of the waste that is moved across borders is moved for operations to recover, recycle, reclaim, make direct re-use or alternative use of the wastes concerned. From the information available, it appears that presently only high income member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (hereafter ‘OECD countries’) allow significant amounts of hazardous and other wastes to be imported for final disposal. It therefore may be assumed that these Parties would only accept such imports if they could treat these wastes in an environmentally sound manner;
• Imports of hazardous wastes by developing countries and countries with economies in transition are decreasing and exports from those countries to developed countries, where it is assumed these wastes can be treated in an environmentally sound manner, are increasing. Even though the ban on export of hazardous wastes from developed countries to developing countries adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention has not yet entered into force, such transboundary movements are already decreasing. The trends observed may, at least partly, be caused by underreporting by Parties.
• There is no evidence that significant amounts of hazardous wastes are being transferred from richer countries to poorer countries.

There are also areas where further progress may be needed:

• Continuous efforts should be made to encourage Parties to transmit their national reports to the Secretariat and to improve the quality and comparability of data in such reports;
• The quantitative information presently received about transboundary movements is satisfactory, but more information is needed about the generation of hazardous wastes and the quality of treatment in the states of import, to be able to assess if the goal of environmentally sound management of wastes is being achieved.
• More information on illegal movements should be made available and analyzed more systematically to detect areas of implementation of the Convention where further improvement could be made.

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