Int'l waste management conference may not reach agreement

Antara , Nusa Dua, Bali | Thu, 06/26/2008 12:21 PM | World

An international conference on waste management (COP 9) under the Basel convention on control of transboundary movements of hazardous waste substances and their disposal held in Bali, may not reach an agreement on the export and import of poisonous and hazardous substances.

The remarks was made by Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar before he delivered a lecture on environmental pollution at the Udayana University here on Wednesday.

"The possibility of a deadlock is big, as the interests of the developing and advanced countries are quite different," he said.

Until now, Indonesia is still lobbying countries who have yet to agree on the export and import of hazardous and poisonous waste substances.

"We are still seeking a strategy to discus the pros and cons in a bid to arrive at a solution," he said.

According to Rachmat Witoelar, Indonesia wanted the conference to produce an agreement on a ban on the disposal of poisonous and hazardous substances into the developing countries.

The countries which had often exported such waste substances are the United States, Canada and Japan, while countries into which such waste substances had often been disposed were Indonesia, the Ivory Coast and Kenya.

If by the conclusion of the conference no such agreement had been reached, the management of poisonous and hazardous substances would have to be delayed for the next two years.

The Basel Convention on control and transboudary movements of hazardous substances and their disposal held in Nusa Dua, Bali, has entered its fourth day. The issue is scheduled to be brought to a ministerial level meeting on Thursday. The conference is taking place from June 23 to 27.

Right now 170 countries in the world had ratified the Basel Convention, while Indonesia ratified it in 1993. (**)