BASEL CONVENTION
One of the problems about the Basel Convention is that it contains significant definitional loopholes
regarding the distinction between waste and non-waste, as well as the distinction between hazardous
waste and non-hazardous waste. These definitional loopholes are abused by developed countries like
Canada, USA, and South Korea. These countries are exploiting the good name of recycling and use it to
justify that all exports are just moving in countries where the wastes would be recycled. No wonder
some least developed countries and environmental organizations argued that the Basel Convention did
not go far enough. Within the given prob lem, there should be a total ban on shipment of all hazardous
waste. Fortunately, an amendment to the convention was made in 1995 termed as Basel Ban
Amendment.
The Basel Ban Amendment bans all shipments of hazardous waste from developed to developing
countries, even for recycling purposes. It also Promote clean production, stop toxic technologies and
prevent governments and companies from circumventing the recycling loophole in the Basel
Convention. The amendment seems to be good, right? But wait, even though there’s an amendment
made, the problem about waste shipments still exist. The nations signed to the Basel Convention are not
mandated or required to ratify the said amendment, meaning, they could still shipped recycling-
registered-wastes to least developed countries. The Basel convention should require all its signatories to
also adopt the ban amendment, for it will protect the developing countries and penalized the violators.
As we all know, the Philippines always received hazardous waste from different countries like Canada
and South Korea. The Philippines, Canada, South Korea, and other countries were signed to the
convention but not yet ratify the ban amendment, because of this; those irresponsible developed
countries were not held accountable of their waste shipments, while the developing countries were not
protected. This large scale of bullying should be stopped. Converting other nations to be your dumping
ground was just so disrespectful and insulting. Those industrialized countries should be more
responsible about their own wastes.
