Stronger Rules to Govern Dumping of Wastes at Sea

LONDON, UK, March 10, 2006 (ENS) - A new and more protective set of international rules governing the dumping of wastes at sea will take effect March 24. Based on the precautionary principle, the new rules also include the principle that the polluter must pay for damages.

For the first time, a maritime treaty will govern storage of wastes in the seabed, as well as the abandonment, or toppling, of offshore installations.

The new rules are defined by the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention, formally known as the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972.

The 1996 Protocol takes effect 30 days after its ratification by Mexico, the 26th country to do so. The Ambassador of Mexico to the United Kingdom Juan José Bremer, deposited his country's instrument of ratification at International Maritime Organization (IMO) Headquarters in London on February 22.

While the United States is a Party to the London Convention, it has not ratified the 1996 Protocol. The United Kingdon is a Party to both agreements as are New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Norway, Spain and South Africa, among others.

The 1996 Protocol prohibits dumping at sea, except for materials on an approved list.

This contrasts with the 1972 Convention which permitted dumping of wastes at sea, except for those materials on a banned list.

Ocean dumping of sewage sludge like this will still be allowed under the new rules. (Photo courtesy Greenpeace)

"Now that the requisite number of ratifications has been received, the 1996 Protocol will enter into force, thus achieving another major milestone for the marine environment, Mitropoulos said. "The application of the Protocol's precautionary approach will have a significant impact on the protection of the marine environment from dumping at sea."

The 1996 Protocol gradually will replace the 1972 Convention, to which 84 governments are currently Parties. This means, in practice, that both agreements will be in force in parallel for some time, but the momentum will shift to the Protocol as more and more Parties ratify it.

The Parties to the 1996 Protocol will be invited to attend their first meeting under the Protocol from October 30 to November 3, in conjunction with the 28th Consultative Meeting of the Parties to the London Convention, planned in the same week.

One of the first key issues for discussion under the 1996 Protocol will be a review of the compatibility of carbon dioxide capture and storage in sub-seabed geological structures, as part of a suite of measures to tackle the challenge of climate change and ocean acidification.

Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent greenhouse gas linked to global warming. To get it out of the atmosphere, where it traps the Sun's heat close to the planet, scientists have been working on ways to sequester the gas underground or in geological structures under the ocean floor.

The 1996 Protocol reflects a more modern and comprehensive agreement on protecting the marine environment from dumping activities than the original 1972 Convention and reflects the broader aims to protect the environment in general, says Mitropoulos.

The protocol introduces the precautionary approach, requiring that "appropriate preventative measures are taken when there is reason to believe that wastes or other matter introduced into the marine environment are likely to cause harm even when there is no conclusive evidence to prove a causal relation between inputs and their effects."

The protocol enshrines the idea that "the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution," and it emphasizes that Parties should ensure that the protocol should not result in pollution being transferred from one part of the environment to another.

The 1972 Convention permits dumping to be carried out provided certain conditions are met and includes a "black list" of materials that may not be dumped at all.

The 1996 Protocol is more restrictive. It states that the Parties "shall prohibit the dumping of any wastes or other matter with the exception of those listed."

Under the protocol, the only materials that may be dumped are:

• Dredged material
• Sewage sludge
• Fish waste, or material resulting from industrial fish processing operations
• Vessels and platforms or other man-made structures at sea
• Inert, inorganic geological material
• Organic material of natural origin
• Bulky items primarily comprising iron, steel, concrete and similar harmless materials, for which the concern is physical impact, and limited to those circumstances where such wastes are generated at locations, such as small islands with isolated communities, having no practicable access to disposal options other than dumping.

Ocean incineration vessel Vulcanus II burning toxic waste in the North Sea, 1987. (Photo by Van der Veer courtesy Greenpeace)

Incineration at sea of industrial waste and sewage sludge had already been prohibited under the 1993 amendments to the London Convention.

Although the internal waters of a Party are excluded from the dumping provisions under both the Convention and Protocol, Parties to the Protocol have the option to apply its rules to their internal waters if they wish.

The protocol contains better linkages with other international environmental agreements which have been developed since 1972, for instance, through its ban on export of wastes for dumping purposes in relation to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

The protocol places more emphasis on compliance than the London Convention, but it includes a transitional period to help new Parties towards gradually achieving full compliance over a maximum period of five years.

London Convention website: http://www.londonconvention.org/

The text of the 1972 Convention and the 1996 Protocol can be downloaded from the London Convention website at: http://www.londonconvention.org/Documents.htm#Texts_of_the_London_Convention

People who observe a dumping incident at sea are encouraged to report it. Find out how at: http://www.londonconvention.org/Incident_reporting_forms.htm