Ganga Expressway project put on hold

Last year, Indian construction and engineering firm Jaiprakash Associates Limited had won rights to build two large expressways originating from Noida -- the 1,047 kms long Ganga Expressway to eastern Uttar Pradesh, and the 165 kms Yamuna Expressway across western UP. It was allotted this contract worth Rs 30,000-crore for constructing a Expressway, which was to pass through 17 districts along the bank of river Ganga. The Expressway promised to reduce travel time from Ballia to Noida to about 10 hours. As per company's alignment report, the Expressway is supposed to pass through Ballia, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Kanpur, Hard-oi, Shahjahanpur, Farrukhabad, Etah, Badaun, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida).

The company was supposed to deposit 10 per cent of the total land cost with the government — around Rs 400 crore — as compensation for the land owners. The company had said that so far it deposited around Rs 100 crore with the UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority. There was over 62,000 hectares of land to be acquired.

The project was supposed to come up on the north embankment of the river which is mostly fertile agricultural land, especially the area between Farrukhabad and Ballia.

Families which lose their homes were supposed to get 150 square metres in urban areas and 250 square metre in the rural area for free. The farmers were entitled to invest 10 per cent of their compensation in the form of shares in the developer’s company. But the possibility of embankment induced flood and darainage crisis was
a great concern.

Gopal Krishna

Threat to Ganga diverted?

VARANASI: The directive of the Allahabad High Court on the ambitious Ganga
Expressway project is the victory of the Ganga itself, says Prof UP Choudhary, a
river scientist and head of the Ganga Research Centre, Institute of Technology,
Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

It may be mentioned here that the HC on Friday stopped the state government from
proceeding with the Ganga Expressway project, aimed at linking Noida to Ballia
in Eastern UP.

Chowdhary is among the first to have raised strong objections to the Ganga
Expressway on technical grounds, describing it as non-technical and unscientific
venture and disastrous to the river. Challenging the technicalities of the dream
project of the chief minister Mayawati, he had also written a letter to her with
a request to stop the execution of the project because it would prove fatal to
the holy Ganga.

In his letter (dated January 22,2008) he also attached a 12-point fact sheet of
few technical points in support of his claims. The expressway is supposed to
traverse along the concave and convex banks of the Ganga down the whole length.
Cities like Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and other towns and villages are
situated on its banks. Different tributaries also meet the river and the
expressway cannot prevent the floodwater from entering into cities. Hence, the
expressway is not a solution to floods, he points out.

According to Choudhary, the expressway would cut the watershed, which will cause
drainage path to deflect and will intensify the erosion of the top soil of the
basin. The effect of cutting of watershed on one side will cause increase in
pressure (depth of water) and on the other side, the seepage rate will enhance.
Due to this reason the erosion of concave bank will be intensified and the
lateral shifting of erosion may affect the expressway.

He says the proposed project also poses a threat to a large area of fertile
basin. The project will also affect the river course. The river course will
change due to the simultaneous occurrence of erosion and sedimentation and
enhancement of meandering of the river, he says and adds a river behaves
peculiarly on account of groundwater movement.

"It is only the river's morphological aspect while the socio-economic aspects
will have other implications like enhancement in pollution level in the river,"
Choudhary informed and added the Ganga, which was already facing a lot of
problems, would have to face other challenges if the project materialised.
Running of thousands of vehicles would release huge quantum of harmful gases and
they would enhance the temperature, thus increasing the rate of evaporation and
decreasing the quantity of water flow. It would further cause depletion in
dissolved oxygen (DO). "If the proposed expressway comes into existence, the
entire Ganga ecosystem will change," he warned.

30 May 2009
The Times of India

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Toxic link: the WHO and the IAEA

A 50-year-old agreement with the IAEA has effectively gagged the WHO from telling the truth about the health risks of radiation

Fifty years ago, on 28 May 1959, the World Health Organisation's assembly voted into force an obscure but important agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency – the United Nations "Atoms for Peace" organisation, founded just two years before in 1957. The effect of this agreement has been to give the IAEA an effective veto on any actions by the WHO that relate in any way to nuclear power – and so prevent the WHO from playing its proper role in investigating and warning of the dangers of nuclear radiation on human health.

The WHO's objective is to promote "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health", while the IAEA's mission is to "accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world". Although best known for its work to restrict nuclear proliferation, the IAEA's main role has been to promote the interests of the nuclear power industry worldwide, and it has used the agreement to suppress the growing body of scientific information on the real health risks of nuclear radiation.

Under the agreement, whenever either organisation wants to do anything in which the other may have an interest, it "shall consult the other with a view to adjusting the matter by mutual agreement". The two agencies must "keep each other fully informed concerning all projected activities and all programs of work which may be of interest to both parties". And in the realm of statistics – a key area in the epidemiology of nuclear risk – the two undertake "to consult with each other on the most efficient use of information, resources, and technical personnel in the field of statistics and in regard to all statistical projects dealing with matters of common interest".

The language appears to be evenhanded, but the effect has been one-sided. For example, investigations into the health impacts of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine on 26 April 1986 have been effectively taken over by IAEA and dissenting information has been suppressed. The health effects of the accident were the subject of two major conferences, in Geneva in 1995, and in Kiev in 2001. But the full proceedings of those conferences remain unpublished – despite claims to the contrary by a senior WHO spokesman reported in Le Monde Diplomatique.

Meanwhile, the 2005 report of the IAEA-dominated Chernobyl Forum, which estimates a total death toll from the accident of only several thousand, is widely regarded as a whitewash as it ignores a host of peer-reviewed epidemiological studies indicating far higher mortality and widespread genomic damage. Many of these studies were presented at the Geneva and Kiev conferences but they, and the ensuing learned discussions, have yet to see the light of day thanks to the non-publication of the proceedings.

The British radiation biologist Keith Baverstock is another casualty of the agreement, and of the mindset it has created in the WHO. He served as a radiation scientist and regional adviser at the WHO's European Office from 1991 to 2003, when he was sacked after expressing concern to his senior managers that new epidemiological evidence from nuclear test veterans and from soldiers exposed to depleted uranium indicated that current risk models for nuclear radiation were understating the real hazards.

Now a professor at the University of Kuopio, Finland, Baverstock finally published his paper in the peer-reviewed journal Medicine, Conflict and Survival in April 2005. He concluded by calling for "reform from within the profession" and stressing "the political imperative for freely independent scientific institutions" – a clear reference to the non-independence of his former employer, the WHO, which had so long ignored his concerns.

Since the 21st anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in April 2007, a daily "Hippocratic vigil" has taken place at the WHO's offices in Geneva, organised by Independent WHO to persuade the WHO to abandon its the WHO-IAEA Agreement. The protest has continued through the WHO's 62nd World Health Assembly, which ended yesterday, and will endure through the executive board meeting that begins today. The group has struggled to win support from WHO's member states. But the scientific case against the agreement is building up, most recently when the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR) called for its abandonment at its conference earlier this month in Lesvos, Greece.

At the conference, research was presented indicating that as many as a million children across Europe and Asia may have died in the womb as a result of radiation from Chernobyl, as well as hundreds of thousands of others exposed to radiation fallout, backing up earlier findings published by the ECRR in Chernobyl 20 Years On: Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident. Delegates heard that the standard risk models for radiation risk published by the International Committee on Radiological Protection (ICRP), and accepted by WHO, underestimate the health impacts of low levels of internal radiation by between 100 and 1,000 times – consistent with the ECRR's own 2003 model of radiological risk (The Health Effects of Ionising Radiation Exposure at Low Doses and Low Dose Rates for Radiation Protection Purposes: Regulators' Edition). According to Chris Busby, the ECRR's scientific secretary and visiting professor at the University of Ulster's school of biomedical sciences:

"The subordination of the WHO to IAEA is a key part of the systematic falsification of nuclear risk which has been under way ever since Hiroshima, the agreement creates an unacceptable conflict of interest in which the UN organisation concerned with promoting our health has been made subservient to those whose main interest is the expansion of nuclear power. Dissolving the WHO-IAEA agreement is a necessary first step to restoring the WHO's independence to research the true health impacts of ionising radiation and publish its findings."

Some birthdays deserve celebration – but not this one। After five decades, it is time the WHO regained the freedom to impart independent, objective advice on the health risks of radiation.

Oliver Tickell
28 May 2009
Guardian, UK

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IMO's Press Release on its Recycling of Ships Treaty

New international convention adopted to ensure safe and environmentally sound ship recycling

A new international Convention on ship recycling has been adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risk to human health and safety or to the environment.

The Convention was adopted at a diplomatic conference held in Hong Kong, China, from 11 to 15 May 2009, attended by delegates from 63 countries. The new Convention was developed by IMO, the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution from ships.

Speaking at the close of the successful conference, IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos expressed satisfaction that the new Convention, named after the host city, was adopted by consensus in the best traditions of the Organization. He told delegates that the new Convention struck the right balance between the responsibilities and obligations of shipowners, ship recycling facilities, flag and recycling States. He added that the Convention, as adopted, allows for future improvements and provides "a platform and an avenue for better regulation, in due course, of the activity it addresses."

"I believe it is a good outcome in the circumstances", he said, "as it has succeeded in putting in place international rules and standards to regulate, for the first time, a complex and multi-faceted issue."

He urged Governments now to turn their attention to the important task of bringing the Convention into force at the earliest possible date and, thereafter, to promoting its uniform and effective implementation. "The closure of the Conference," he said "should mark the beginning of strenuous efforts: first, to initiate, back home, work to ratify the Convention at the earliest possible opportunity to expedite its entry into force; secondly, to initiate action to provide technical assistance to requesting countries without awaiting its entry into force; and thirdly, to initiate action, as may be necessary, to ensure the effective implementation and proper enforcement of the Convention when it comes into force."

The new Convention intends to address all the issues around ship recycling, including the fact that ships sold for scrapping may contain environmentally hazardous substances such as asbestos, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, ozone-depleting substances and others. It will address concerns raised about the working and environmental conditions at many of the world's ship recycling locations.

The text of the ship recycling Convention has been developed over the past three years, with input from IMO Member States and relevant non-governmental organizations, and in co-operation with the International Labour Organization and the Parties to the Basel Convention.

Regulations in the new Convention cover: the design, construction, operation and preparation of ships so as to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships; the operation of ship recycling facilities in a safe and environmentally sound manner; and the establishment of an appropriate enforcement mechanism for ship recycling, incorporating certification and reporting requirements.

Ships to be sent for recycling will be required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials, which will be specific to each ship. An appendix to the Convention will provide a list of hazardous materials the installation or use of which is prohibited or restricted in shipyards, ship repair yards, and ships of Parties to the Convention. Ships will be required to have an initial survey to verify the inventory of hazardous materials, additional surveys during the life of the ship, and a final survey prior to recycling.

Ship recycling yards will be required to provide a "Ship Recycling Plan", to specify the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory. Parties will be required to take effective measures to ensure that ship recycling facilities under their jurisdiction comply with the Convention.

A series of guidelines are being developed to assist in the Convention's implementation.

Entry into force criteria
The Convention shall be open for signature by any State at the Headquarters of the Organization from 1 September 2009 to 31 August 2010 and shall thereafter remain open for accession by any State. It will enter into force 24 months after the date on which 15 States, representing 40 per cent of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, have either signed it without reservation as to ratification, acceptance or approval or have deposited instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Secretary General.

Furthermore, the combined maximum annual ship recycling volume of those States must, during the preceding 10 years, constitute not less than 3 per cent of their combined merchant shipping tonnage.

Resolutions adopted by the conference
The conference also adopted six resolutions as follows:
Resolution 1: Expression of appreciation to the host Government;
Resolution 2: Contribution of the Parties to the Basel Convention and the International Labour Organization in the development of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009;
Resolution 3: Promotion of technical co-operation and assistance;
Resolution 4: Future work by the Organization pertaining to the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009;
Resolution 5: Early implementation of the technical standards of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009; and
Resolution 6: Exploration and monitoring of the best practices for fulfilling the requirements of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.

The Diplomatic Conference was attended by delegations from 63 IMO Member States, as well as by observers from two Associate Members, the United Nations Environment Programme, ILO, the European Commission, and eight non-governmental organizations. It was organized with the support of the Government of China and the Marine Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Briefing 21, 18 May 2009
For further information please contact:
Lee Adamson, Head, Public Information Services on 020 7587 3153 (media@imo.org) or
Natasha Brown, External Relations Officer on 020 7587 3274 (media@imo.org).

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Fiddling With Yamuna's Might

"It is a sad story of men in haste fiddling with major issues and resultantly playing havoc," Justice Rekha Sharma of Delhi High Court while delivering her order saying, "This judgement relates to a river which once flowed majestically but is now gasping for breath. If this continues, time is not far off when this gift of Gods, will die an unnatural death getting buried beneath the layers of silt. If no urgent remedial measures are taken Yamuna may exist only in books" in the case related to the "construction of the Commonwealth Games Village in the river bed."

After violating of Delhi High Court orders, Chief of Delhi Metro Rail Construction (DMRC), E. Sreedharan has committed a blasphemy by suggesting how to "Control the width of the river, not allowing flood waters to inundate the low-lying areas of the city and allow the river to reach its own natural regime in the constricted width." Sreedharan has revealed his anti-environment stance for good.

Sreedharan and likes of him have a dream which is similar to that cherished by Kamal Nath the then Union Environment Minister with the support of Himachal Pradesh government.

The proposal of construction in the river bed of is a case reminiscent of what Indian Express had reported (in 1996) as "Kamal Nath dares the mighty Beas to keep his dreams afloat" referring to Kamal Nath linked Span Motels Private Limited, in Kullu-Manali Valley plans to have a house on the bank of the Beas after encroaching the land which was later regularised and leased out to the company when Mr. Kamal Nath himself was Minister of Environment and Forests.

In the Kamal Nath case, the Supreme Court held that Himachal Pradesh Government had committed patent breach of public trust by leasing the ecologically fragile land and the approval granted by the Government of India, Ministry of Environment was quashed and state government was asked to restore the river to its original-natural conditions and the hotel was asked to pay compensation.

How is constructing a hotel in the river bed of Beas different from the construction of Commonwealth Games Village & other structures in the river bed of Yamuna?

It noteworthy that NDTV and Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL)that publishes The Times of India have made investments in Emaar MGF, a joint venture between Dubai-based property companies Emaar and Delhi-based MGF. Notably, Emaar MGF is the one that's constructing the Commonwealth Games village.

Gopal Krishna

Restrict Yamuna with walls and develop low-lying areas: Metro chief

When the members of the British parliament sat in the House of Commons on a day in the late 1850s, they could not transact any business on account of the foul stench emanating from the Thames. That was the day the government decided to clean up the river and limit its width by building high retaining walls along both banks.

By so confining the river, a new hydrological regime was achieved which resulted in self-cleansing during high and low tides. Sewage and industrial effluents flowing into the Thames were intercepted and taken elsewhere for treatment. The large tract of low-lying areas behind the retaining walls were given for real estate development. And that is how London is today clean, with majestic and monumental buildings lining the banks of the Thames.

The same story appears to have been repeated for all great cities located on river banks whether it is Paris, Budapest, Moscow, New York or Seoul. In all these cities, the river is `trained' (cause to grow in a particular direction or shape) with retaining walls and the banks on either side are beautified with parks, promenades and landmark buildings.

Why cannot Delhi also learn lessons from the experience of these cities? The Yamuna river has to be trained and confined to a width that is defined between abutments of the existing bridges by constructing appropriate guide bunds or retaining walls, and the large sprawling tracts of low-lying areas behind these walls utilized for high-end developments which can make the city rich, beautiful and prosperous.

A handful of self-styled environmentalists is stalling this idea. The result is rampant encroachments on the riverbed by jhuggis which catch fire at regular intervals every summer, often burning alive a few people. Sewage and untreated industrial waste are let into the river without treatment and nobody owns up responsibility for the same.

The so-called environmentalists are vociferous against clean development schemes which are vital for the city, such as Commonwealth Games Village, Metro constructions, Akshardham Temple, etc.

If the Yamuna is to be saved, there is only one way. Control the width of the river, not allowing flood waters to inundate the low-lying areas of the city and allow the river to reach its own natural regime in the constricted width. Model studies in the Central Water and Power Research Institute (CWPRI), Khadakvasala, can validate the philosophy of this argument. Two large longitudinal sewers should be built behind the rampart walls to intercept all the sewage falling into the river, take the sewage to a far-off place, and after proper treatment, let the effluents flow into the river. Industries should treat their effluents before they are let into the river. The low-lying areas behind the masonary embankments should be released for high-end development.

A Special Purpose Vehicle (Yamuna Development Authority) should be set up under an Act of Parliament, fully empowered to train the river and to manage the developments on the released low-lying areas. The resources needed for all these can be easily raised by exploiting the released riverbeds. In the development plan, a corridor of 300 metres should be reserved adjacent to the river bank for gardens, promenades and recreation centres. Initially the stretch between Wazirabad barrage and Kalindi Kunj could be taken up for river training, and the project can be extended downstream and upstream in due course.

The government has already spent more than Rs 1200 crore for cleaning the river. Where has all this money gone? If development as suggested above can be undertaken, the river can be saved, Yamuna can be made clean and the river-fronts can be made the pride of the city.

It is time the government and the judiciary listen to the voice of professionals and not to the vague fears of a few so-called environmentalists.

20 May 2009, The Times of India

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Suspected epicentre of swine flu is CDM project

Note: Almost like our "almost defunct" Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the approach of US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is also quite end-of-pipe, technocentric and indulgent in seeking companies to undertake planned disposal of their waste. Before the outbreak of the flu, most people did not seem concerned about pandemics, previously unknown diseases, or diseases related to animals, such as mad cow disease.

In his essay, Crimes Against Nature, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says, "I prosecute polluters on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance. As George W. Bush began his presidency, I was involved in against the factory-pork industry, which is a large source of air and water pollution in America. Corporate pork factories cannot produce more efficiently than traditional family farmers without violating several federal
environmental statutes. Industrial farms illegally dump millions of tons of untreated fecal and toxic waste onto land and into the air and water. Factory farms have contaminated hundreds of miles of waterways, put tens of thousands of family farmers and fishermen out of work, killed billions of fish, sickened consumers and subjected millions of farm animals to unspeakable cruelty. On behalf of several farm groups and fishermen, we sued Smithfield Foods and won a
decision that suggested that almost all of American factory farms were violating the Clean Water Act. The Clinton EPA had also brought its own parallel suits addressing chronic air and water violations by hog factories. But almost immediately after taking office, the Bush administration ordered the EPA to halt its Clean Air Act investigations of animal factories and weaken the water rules to allow them to continue polluting indefinitely."

A deadly new influenza virus has managed to migrate from pigs to people in hitherto unseen mutated form and has the potential of spreading among humans across the globe। This outbreak seems to be a case of nature biting back at industrial food production.

Gopal Krishna

Suspected epicentre of swine flu is CDM project

A pig farm in Mexico claimed to be the source of swine flu is host to a UN-registered CDM project.

The clean development mechanism (CDM) project, which has not gone into operation, was to be developed by UK-listed Ecosecurities at a pig farm near the town of La Perote in Veracruz state.

Media reports have cited the farm as a possible source of swine flu that threatens to become a global pandemic.

However the plant’s owners and the Mexican government said there is no evidence for these claims, and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is carrying out an investigation at the site.

“Depending on the outcome of the investigation from the FAO, it is feasible that, if it had been implemented, the project would have helped by improving waste management on the site,” said Belinda Kinkead, head of implementation of Ecosecurities.

Little impact

Kinkead said swine flu was unlikely to have a major impact on supply of credits - unless the Mexican government was to order a mass cull of pigs in order to prevent the spread of disease. But so far the government shows few signs of doing this until a firm link is established between porcine and human influenza.

According to design documents, projects that capture animal waste in Mexico could supply around 23 million carbon credits from the Kyoto protocol’s CDM between now and the end of 2012. But the percentage of credits generated by the sector is typically only a quarter of that promised.

Of the 89 projects in the sector registered by the UN, just 16 projects have been issued with credits.

Ecosecurities has plans to develop 28 CDM projects in Mexico that cut methane emissions from pig waste, but only 10 have gone into operation, as the credits yielded by such projects is now so small as to render them unfeasible, Kinkaid said.

AWMS

Other investors in animal waste management systems (AWMS) include Agcert, a company that was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange. AES Agriverde, which now controls Agcert’s methane capture projects, said it couldn’t comment on the impact of swine flu on its Mexican operations because the company operates a media blackout in advance of declaring quarterly earnings.

Besides trying to sell CDM credits from projects developed by Agcert, the company aims to generate credits that could be sold in a future federal trading scheme in the US. Only last week, before news of swine flu broke, a US developer Environmental Credit Corp said it would try and generate 200,000 CERs from methane capture projects in Mexico. Cargill, a large US commodities trader, is also involved in methane capture CDM projects in Mexico, and is named as a participant in the La Perote project now being investigated by the FAO.

However, no one from the company was available to comment at press time.

Flies

Media outlets from across the world have reported claims by villagers close to the La Perote pig farm that flies feeding on animal waste at the facility had helped spread swine flu to the local human population. The FAO has said so far there is no evidence that swine flu has spread directly from pigs to humans in this way.

At pig farms, companies such as Ecosecurities use technology known as an anaerobic digester to cover up lagoons of animal waste at pig farms and then generate electricity from the captured methane.

By John McGarrity - jm@pointcarbon.com

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Indian & Chinese stance on climate talks

On May 15 2009, Mint reported that The World Bank’s six-sector study, titled Low Carbon Growth in India, to be officially released in two-three months supports Indian stance. The study that India can cut 227 million tonnes (mt) of carbon dioxide emissions in the power sector by curbing transmission and distribution losses, rehabilitating or closing lowest efficiency coal plants, adopting mandatory energy efficiency standards for household appliances, improving fuel efficiency of new cars and light vehicles, and reducing reliance on private transport.

“Draft findings of the study show that given the existing technology and resource constraints and the absence of a global financial architecture for mitigation, India’s 11th Five-Year Plan, if implemented effectively, seems to be an efficient low-carbon growth plan.”

The study models two scenarios for the power sector. The first model predicts that in 2031-32, even with an abbreviated growth rate caused by the global financial crisis, carbon dioxide emissions will stand at 3.4 times 2007 levels, and energy supply requirements at four times 2007 levels. (The increase in emissions works out to 36.7 thousand mt.) The second model, having accounted for inefficiencies in transmission and distribution and slower construction of power plants, projects an increase of 8.8% of the first model’s emissions level—in other words, 8.8% of 36.7 thousand mt, which works out to an extra 3.2 thousand mt of carbon dioxide.

The report says: “The active promotion of car ownership, coupled with their currently low variable operating cost, are likely to cause these growth forecasts to be exceeded unless policies are enacted to promote fast and efficient public transport over private alternatives, and corresponding infrastructure is developed.”

The report projects 86 privately owned cars per 1,000 people in 2031-32, which is currently eight per thousand people, increasing carbon dioxide emissions from transport to 5.6 times their 2007-8 figures.

It adds: “This level of car ownership is significantly less than other countries. In 1990, most IEA (International Energy Agency) countries had car ownership levels of between 300 and 450 cars per thousand. By 2004, no country within the IEA17 had an ownership level of less than 350 cars per thousand (recent data: the UK: 426; Japan: 543; the US: 765).”

IEA17 is a sub-group of countries within IEA.

“To home in on private vehicles as a major issue is exaggerating the problem,” said Shyam Saran, the Prime Minister’s special envoy on climate change. “Having said that, it is important for India to move ahead in public transportation. One of the most important elements of the National Action Plan is promotion of public transportation. It’s not that we aren’t moving in that direction, but we can’t exaggerate this issue. It is very difficult to say we should not allow our people to aspire to owning a car. If you are saying: ‘I will keep my cars, but you, India, I will not allow aspiring to new cars’… I can’t possibly sell this argument in my country.”

Such studies are being carried out for Mexico, Brazil, South Africa and China—the other supplemental members of the so-called G8+5 group—as well as for Indonesia. The G8 (Group of Eight) consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US.

On 15 May, China Daily reported, China will remain firm in its call for developed nations to cut emissions and for other nations to receive funding as the world attempts to formulate a post-Kyoto deal on climate change.

A climate change official said on 14th May that China's long-held position had been detailed in a document that will be sent to the United Nations ahead of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

The submission will be released to the public in two weeks.

Li Gao, a division director of the Climate Change Department of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said: "Together with each country's document, we submit ours to the UN to facilitate the negotiations before a global climate change deal is sealed."

Once the UN receives submissions from China and other countries involved in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, it will map out a draft deal.

While the exact details of China's document are unknown, the government has often said it wants developed nations to cut emissions by up to 40 percent.

It has also said that China, as a developing nation, would give an undertaking to improve energy efficiency and that less developed nations should receive financial assistance to combat climate change.

The first round of climate change negotiations took place in Bonn, Germany, last month. There will be four more UN sessions before the Copenhagen conference.

"No matter what happens on the road to Copenhagen, our stance and principles are long-held," Li said. "We are active both in global talks and taking action in curbing emission."

The Chinese government has said it would avoid promising a cut in greenhouse gases during the 2013-2020 period.

Instead, China will consider setting a goal to improve energy efficiency by 2020, which decreases greenhouse gas emission, a source close to Li's commission said.

"I was told that between 2011-20, China will probably promise to achieve the same energy-saving target as it is doing during the 2006-10 period," a source invited to an NDRC internal meeting, said.

China is in the process of cutting energy consumption by 4 percent per unit of GDP every year between 2006 and 2010.

"We will urge the developed countries to take more concrete measures and set clear targets on emission cuts," Li said.

In a previous report, another NDRC official said developed nations must commit to cutting emissions by 25-40 percent by 2020 as well as ramp up funding for developing countries.

Li said China would also propose to establish a specific financing mechanism for the transfer of green energy technology and funding for climate change adaptation for poorer nations।

Earlier, The Guardian reported on May 6, 2009 UK climate secretary saying that dramatic reversal in US position under Obama has brought Beijing to the table on emission cuts base. China is ready to abandon its resistance to limits on its carbon emissions and wants to reach an international deal to fight global warming, the Guardian has learned.

According to Britain's climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, who met senior officials in Beijing this week, China is ready to "do business" with developed countries to reach an agreement to replace the Kyoto treaty.

Miliband said he was encouraged by the change in tone since late last year in the country that emits more greenhouse gases than any other. "I think they're up for a deal. I get the strong impression that they want an agreement," he told the Guardian.

"They see the impact of climate change on China and they know the world is moving towards a low-carbon economy and see the business opportunities that will come with that."

The shift in the Chinese position significantly improves the chances of an agreement being reached when world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a deal that scientists say is critical if dangerous warming is to be avoided.

While Britain and the European Union – which have a large historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions – are pushing for ambitious reduction targets at home, no global climate deal will be possible in Copenhagen without the agreement of China and the US, which together are responsible for more than 40% of the world's annual carbon emissions.

China's official negotiating position is unchanged, but the government is understood to be preparing a set of targets up to and beyond 2020 to lower the country's "carbon intensity". This translates to cutting the emissions needed to produce each unit of economic growth.

Miliband said Barack Obama's pledge to reduce US emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 has unblocked the international negotiating process.

"China used to think the developed world is not serious. That's what they were saying [at UN talks] in December," he said. "But now they know the US is on the pitch and ready to engage with them. It has made a real difference to what China is saying."

His comments echoed the message from Chinese officials. Su Wei, a senior negotiator, told the Guardian last month that the US had made a "substantive change" under the Obama administration.

"The message we have got is that the current US administration takes climate change seriously, that it recognises its historical responsibility and that it has the capacity to help developing countries address climate change," Su said.

But while the tone may have changed, there is still a long way to go before agreement can be reached on specifics.

China wants developed nations to commit to more ambitious reduction targets, to share low-carbon technology and to set up a UN fund that would buy related intellectual property rights for use across the world. Beijing's position is complicated by the fact that it already owns a large share of the patents for wind and solar energy in developed nations.

Europe and the US accept the Chinese economy should be allowed to grow further, improving the living standards of its millions of poor, before it makes overall emissions reductions. Instead, the western nations are pushing for strong measures to improve efficiency and establish caps for certain industries. One possibility being considered by Chinese officials is to set a carbon intensity goal up to 2040 that would include energy efficiency, renewable energy, transport and afforestation.

"It would be very welcome for China to set a commitment for carbon intensity," said Miliband. "It would send a signal around the world."

He was visiting Minqin county, a remote area in north-western China threatened by desertification and drought. Along with the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, the spread of deserts and the shortage of water have highlighted the destructive impact of unsustainable development and climate change.

"We're very concerned about climate change," said Xu Wenshan, the deputy mayor of Wuwei, at a welcome banquet. "Living in such an ecologically fragile area, we will feel the impact directly if there is a further rise in the temperature."

Jim Watson, of the UK's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said it had become the mainstream view in China that global warming was caused by human activity, which was not the view five years ago.

"We see significant policy shifts and encouraging developments in technology, for example phenomenal development of wind power and plug-in cars. That could be a sign of things to come," he said. "My impression is that although the negotiators haven't moved ground officially, there are a hell of a lot of new ideas. They are very interested in low-carbon economy."

Last month, the Tyndale centre published research showing that it was possible for China to begin reducing its total emissions from 2020.

Government officials say that is unrealistic and China has so far resisted announcing a target for when emissions might peak. But the authorities tend towards the later end of the various academic forecasts of between 2020 and 2040.

Watson noted that if emissions are measured on a historical per-capita basis, China is 78th in the world rather than first.

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IMO, Alang, Sachana & Workers Plight

UN's IMO Convention on Ship Breaking for secondary steel production is expected to come into force in 2013. The treaty will require approximately 50,000 ships worldwide to have a certified Inventory of Hazardous Materials on board, listing the hazardous materials present in their structure and equipment. Every new ship will have to enter service with a certified IHM once the convention comes into force.

Meanwhile while there are over 100 ships in Alang, 1200 to 1500 ships are waiting to arrive at Alang ship breaking yard. On an average 30 to 35 ships are reaching Alang every month. Till August 2008, per tone cost of ship was 750 dollars which has come down to 250 to 300 dollars now.

Ships are in queue at Alang ship breaking yard. Alang has some 163 plots having area of Area-ranging from 1350 Sq.m. to 3600 Sq.m. Many small ships(four to five thousand tone capacity) prefer to go to Sachana ship breaking yard which is located in north Saurashtra, 28 km from Jamnagar. Sachana ship breaking yard had total six plots.

Gujarat Maritime Board’s Sachana ship breaking yard witnessed first ship breaking activity in around 1977-78 but then it legged behind the Alang ship breaking yard. Sachana yard is smaller than Alang. At Sachana yard, ship stands inside the sea, away from ship breaking plot. After breaking some parts inside the sea, ships are pulled towards the plots. Eight more ships are expected to arrive at Sachana. One Alang based major yard owner has now bought a plot at Sachana also. One ship breaking plot provides employment to around 150 laborers.

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat reviewed Management of Hazardous Waste Site at Alang in November-2007 along with Gujarat Health Minister Ashokbhai Bhatt. Given the fact that most of the workers are migrants from Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Orissa, the government is least concerned about their well being because they are not the voters of Gujarat.

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Isn't Alang a toxic security threat?

Note: The intelligence report mentions that the regulations allow such ships innocent passage through the entire stretch of Indian waters unscrutinized by the security agencies. Besides environmental security, national security also seems to be a casualty. Newly adopted IMO Convention on Ship Recycling/breaking on 15 May, 2009 at the instance of ship owners and ship owning countries opens the flood gates for indiscriminate dumping of dead and toxic ships on once pristine beaches of Alang. Supreme Court of India has been misled by the cash buyers through high profile lawyers. Intelligence surveillance on Alang's black economy is an urgent necessity.

Is Alang a contraband haven?

AHMEDABAD/BHAVNAGAR: Once Asia's busiest ship-breaking yards, Alang is becoming notorious for passage of contraband. Recently, 2.2 kg of cocaine and stocks of sandalwood and ivory were seized there.

Patrolling on the shores has been tightened and port officials have been asked to be on alert. Every ship coming for breaking is being thoroughly checked and crew is being screened.

Alang hasn't been a cause for concern for security agencies so far, Bhavnagar superintendent of police RV Asari told TOI. "However, after these incidents, we are taking precautions. We have deployed a motor boat with six policemen to patrol the coast. Coast Guard is also patrolling Gulf of Khambhat. District special operations group (SOG) and local police are keeping a vigil on the highway running parallel to the sea," he said.

"The recent seizures are stray incidents and not regular affairs. This is not a port that can be used time and again. Also, we are checking every incoming ship three times," said a senior port officer. "We're keeping an eye on Alang to free it of such illegal activities," said a senior IPS officer.

Alang has a dubious record as far as ecological affairs are concerned due to use of harmful gases and material scrapped. The new concern is whether banned goods are being smuggled in the guise of scrap.

State Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) sources said cocaine was found from the cabin of a ship that had come for scrapping. Forest department detained a Syrian national who came with a ship in Alang for possessing elephant tusks.

Recently, when the department recovered 12.5 kg of ivory and 400 kg of sandalwood from Bhavnagar and Palitana, the sea route was immediately suspected.

Even in these times of slump, the yard receives around 100 ships every year from around the world. If goods mentioned above could sneak through three-tier customs and security checks, it could be explosives and weapons next.

Parth Shastri
The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4487850,prtpage-1.cms

Swine flu threat from Alang

Gandhinagar(IANS): The Gujarat government has sounded a “special alert” at Asia’s biggest ship breaking and recycling yard in Alang on India’s western coastline with health officials told to carry out thorough screening of foreign crews for swine flu.
“A special alert was sounded at Alang where 25,000 migrant labourers at the yard are at risk of contracting the disease,” a senior health official told IANS.

The Alang yard, 50 km from Bhavnagar, receives large vessels with a bare minimum crew of 30 to 40 seamen. However, these vessels anchor at various ports for days before getting beached at the breaking and recycling yard.

“The risk is more from the migrant labourers contracting the influenza A(H1N1) infection in (Alang), which has close to 25,000 labourers living in shanties close to the yard.

“If these labourers, if infected by the virus, travel to other parts of the state one can easily guess the magnitude of the problem that Gujarat could face compared to other states in the country,” the official said.

The state government has already put major ports - Kandla, Mundhra and Pipavav - under the scanner and health officials are closely screening foreign visitors and crew for the influenza A(H1N1) infection, which, according to the WHO, has already spread to 21 countries. However, there is no such case reported in India so far.

Alang yard receives around 30 small and large vessels every month for breaking with a high number of crew of various nationalities disembarking at the yard and then after going through the mandatory customs and other immigration formalities taking a flight back from Ahmedabad airport.

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Industrial waste burns child to death

Hot ash burns child to death

Illegal dumping of industrial waste around Raigarh takes the life of 7-year-old Twinkle Thakur, raising familiar troubling questions about the trajectory of 'development' in India. Kanchi Kohli reports.

12 May 2009 - "You must be either very dumb or very rich if you fail to notice that development stinks", says Gustavo Esteva, a Mexican activist and development critic. A few days back I happened to read what Gustavo Esteva had to say. His quote was being used in a case study describing the devastation by the petrochemical industry in Nigeria - heralded by the multinational giant Shell - and its impacts on local cultures and lives. I had not even finished reflecting on the case when I received an anguished and angry missive from groups in Raigarh district of Chhatisgarh, about an industrial accident involving children. Esteva, I reminded myself once again, was not just relevant in faraway Mexico, but right here in India too.

The dictionary meaning of the word 'development' often does not match the corrupted reality of its use in India and elsewhere in the world, particularly in economies that are labeled 'developing'. At the same time, in the deeply embedded liberalised economies that one has been living in, the same word is read as a given paradigm, and the human and environment damage accompanying it - as they are in Raigarh - are regarded as necessary side effects.

The death of a child

To return to the letter I received - its contents spoke of one more incident in a by-now-familiar tale of woe over the operations of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) around Raigarh town. Ramesh Agrawal of Jan Chetana, an NGO in Raigarh, sent alerts to human rights and environmental groups, drawing attention to a sad but true industrial accident. On the afternoon of 17 April, 7-year-old Twinkle Thakur, daughter of a JSPL employee Sanjay Thakur, and her brother were inadvertently caught in an open live-burning ash dump near a nearby residential area, the Indira Awaas colony. While her brother escaped with burn injuries to his legs, Twinkle died the following day, after being hospitalised first.

Immediately after the accident, the hot ash was cooled off by JSPL using through water tankers. Jan Chetana says this amounts to destroying evidence at the site of the accident.

Villagers living in the area say the incident took place around 3-4 PM on the 17th. There were delays in informing the police, lodging complaints and booking suspects, but that has become the norm in incidents like this across the country. Twinkle died at 11 AM the following day, whereupon the police registered a case against an unknown JSPL contractor under section 304 A of IPC alleging death due to negligence. However, this was done without a site inspection - or verifying whether a contractor or JSPL itself was responsible for dumping the hot ash in the residential area.

Local activists have reported for many months now that JSPL has allegedly illegally dumped ash around Indira Awaas, which has led to serious accidents involving children. In fact ash dumps can be seen all around the plant site without any protection or regard to safety measures.

Dousing out the memory

Immediately after the accident, the hot ash was cooled off by JSPL, by sprinkling water through water tankers. Industrial operations like JSPL have their own fire brigade. "Soon after the incident, the very next day on 18th all the ash was removed from the accident spot. Tire marks of heavy vehicles could be seen even 4-5 days after the incident." says Agrawal. He argues that this action by the company (either directly or through its contractors) amounts to tampering with the accident site before the investigation is complete, and will come in the way of a just and proper assessment to determine the real culprit. "This is can be understood as a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence of the accident." he says.

On 29 April, the regional Hindi newspaper Chattisgarh reported on the incident in great detail. The report also included a statement by JSPL's public relations department denying the allegation that the illegal dumping of flyash is by the company. Accordingly to the statement, JSPL has designated dumping sites and methods for operations there. However, several villagers including those from Kirodimal Nagar (close to where the incident occurred), take ash from the JSPL plant for land filling and land leveling purposes. The statement implied that the hot burning ash that took Twinkle Thakur's life was one such instance of the material being moved by villagers to a different location than the one where it was dumped by the company.

Reports from the area indicate that Twinkle's house is locked, and her parents have left for their home town in Bihar. There is little that the local groups can also get out of the hospital administration, who are choosing to be quiet about the incident and the happenings after that. A few villagers complained to the District Collector Manish Tyagi, but rather than an immediate and urgent inquiry in response to their complaint, what they have got is legal notices asking them to appear for testimony. Further, more than fifteen days have passed but not a single senior officer from the district administration has visited site of the accident. Nor has the State Pollution Control Board (there is a regional office of the Chhatisgarh State Environment Conservation Board in Raigarh) taken any action against illegal dumping of hot ash direct from kilns at unguarded open residential place.

What is important to understand, in all this, is that this accident and its aftermath are not simply an isolated instance - not in Raigarh, nor elsewhere in India and definitely not across the 'developing' world. The faces of the villains, victims and audiences are the only things that change. Whistle-blowers find varied degrees of success while seeking justice. But more often than not, the industrial face of such projects is able to quickly put a lid on the whole affair. While the odd mention is made in papers, especially when children like Twinkle die, it is quickly back to business as usual - endless frustration for those who question it, and a nightmare for those whose lives are shattered, but a forgotten past for those who choose not to engage with it.

The verb "develop" is often defined as 'to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of or bring to a more advanced or effective state'. When one stops to ponder how routinely this advanced or effective state has included horrible tragedies visited upon the poor and disenfranchised, it is easy to recognise Gustavo Esteva's criticism for what it is - a plain observation of the truth. Development, packaged in the language of GDP and 'necessary' choices, stinks. And as we debate, define, resurrect, and reclaim our definitions, the world's realities are throwing them back at our faces, until we can evade them no more.

Incidents such as this and the lack of any due action, are of routine occurance in the burgeoning Raigarh district. Industrial development is playing out to its worst, with blatant violations, disregard for life along with fear and corruption as marks of "development". For the last 4-5 years I have been regularly writing in India Together on issues related to rapid industrial expansion in Raigarh district. The most recent article was on the expansion of the Monnet Ispat Plant where in school children were being impacted by pollution of existing operations, and no action was taken despite repeated complaints by the Principal (click here).

To see that JSPL is part of a larger pattern is easy; one has to just land at the Railway Station, breathe the air, and circle around the plant, and the evidence is everywhere. ⊕

URL for this article:
http://indiatogether.org/2009/may/env-hotash.htm

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UN Official Challenges Chemical Industry

“Steiner said manufacturers need to take charge of their past by ridding the world of large inventories of obsolete chemicals, especially pesticides.”

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/87/i20/8720notw10.html

The United Nations' top environmental official on May 14, 2009 challenged the chemical industry to clean up stockpiles of its old, toxic products.

Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), also asked companies to recommend chemicals for global phaseout, and to contribute money to UN projects designed to make the management of chemicals safer in developing countries. Steiner made his provocative remarks to top chemical industry executives at the second International Conference on Chemicals Management. The May 11-15 UN meeting was held in Geneva.

Speaking at an event sponsored by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), Steiner said manufacturers need to take charge of their past by ridding the world of large inventories of obsolete chemicals, especially pesticides. Hundreds of tons of no longer produced compounds, many of which pose known health risks, are stockpiled in developing countries, especially in Africa. These nations have little or no infrastructure for disposing of them.

By getting rid of these out-of-date substances, companies can concretely reduce risks to public health, Steiner said.

Shell, for example, has removed stockpiles of obsolete pesticides, including dieldrin, from developing countries. Ben Van Beurden, executive vice president at Shell Chemicals, said his company worked with CropLife, a pesticide industry group, in carrying out this work.

Many companies are reluctant to remove old stocks of chemicals they formerly produced because of wide-ranging liability concerns, Steiner said. But if top-level executives get behind these efforts, he noted, companies can work through liability issues and "find a way to make things happen."

Meanwhile, Steiner asked companies to recommend more chemicals for a global treaty that calls for elimination of or restrictions on production or use of persistent organic pollutants. That accord, the 2001 Stockholm Convention, targets persistent organic chemicals that are carcinogens, interfere with reproduction or development, or damage the immune or nervous system. Earlier this month, treaty partners added nine substances to the initial dozen controlled under the treaty.

Overall, industry has more scientists than governments do, and those private-sector experts can generate and analyze the data needed to support listing substances under the Stockholm Convention, Steiner said. He urged manufacturers to adopt the outlook of: "We know there will be transition costs, but we agree these chemicals need [to be] phased out."

Steiner also asked chemical companies to chip in to a global trust fund that pays for UN-selected projects to help developing countries manage commercial chemicals better. Currently, the fund has only gotten money from governments.

"Not every project will be of interest to you," Steiner told the industry executives. "You may be reluctant to put money into a governmental trust fund – and I have a lot of sympathy for that." Perhaps companies can find a way to cofinance these projects, he suggested.

Company executives responded to Steiner's challenges by describing their current international efforts on chemicals management.

Christian Jourquin, president of ICCA, said the association's member companies are reaching out to small- and medium-sized chemical manufacturers, especially in the developing world, to train them on the sound handling and use of substances. Many small and medium-sized businesses are not members of national or regional chemical trade organizations, pointed out Jourquin, who is chief executive officer of Solvay.

Such training efforts are a good first step, but they lack followup, Steiner asserted. He said the world community needs to convince industry that money invested in UNEP's chemical management projects will return a greater investment than these training efforts.

When asked about Steiner's call for additional industry measures under the UNEP umbrella, Juergen Hambrecht, BASF's chairman of the board, told reporters that voluntary training programs by large companies already amount to "a lot," noting that those large firms work with tens of thousands of small and medium-sized chemical makers around the world. The chemical industry, he added, is firmly committed to continuing these efforts.

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NGOs call for urgent action on toxic chemicals at UN Conference

Chemical industry refuses to provide financial support

Political will to carry out agreement uncertain

Public interest NGOs welcomed the limited advances made at the 2nd International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM2), however the lack of concrete financial support and wavering political commitment saw many urgent chemical safety issues ignored. One key advance saw delegates approve an NGO proposal to eliminate lead in paint globally and NGOs will work with governments and others to reach this goal within three years.

The Conference took up issues under a global agreement known as the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). Featured items included chemicals in products, electronic waste, and nanotechnology. Each fell short of expectations.

The “chemicals in products” issue started out as a call for information on chemicals in consumer products in answer to public concerns in many countries. At the meeting, the industry together with the US narrowed the scope to pre-existing information about databases, regulations, and industry initiatives. “At the conclusion of this process, countries and consumers will still not have the information they need to protect themselves from dangerous chemicals in products,” said Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith, IPEN Co-Chair.

The 53 countries of the African region along with Peru proposed a collaborative program of work to address producer responsibility and prevent near end of life electrical equipment from becoming dumped as toxic waste. At ICCM2, delegates narrowed the original proposal to a single workshop to identify and assess the lifecycle of electronic products and make recommendations to ICCM3 in 2012. “Instead of aggressive collaborative action between source and recipient countries, ICCM2 gave us a single workshop. While delegates are planning this single workshop, millions of tons of toxic electronic products will be arriving on our shores,” said Professor Jamidu Katima, IPEN Co-Chair.

The emerging concerns on nanotechnology backtracked from previous international consensus. In September 2008, 71 governments agreed on a resolution recommending precaution and labelling consumer products that contain manufactured nanomaterials. [1] Unfortunately, the US attacked the resolution and the Conference called for modest actions such as information sharing. “The actions on nanotechnology that were agreed upon at ICCM2 do not reflect the urgency of the issue. The delegates were made aware that nanomaterials are an intergenerational risk, with nanoparticles being passed from mother to child via maternal blood. Yet these risks appear to have been ignored in the response by ICCM2," said Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith, IPEN Co-Chair.

All delegates at ICCM2 agreed that an adequate, accessible, long-term sustainable financial mechanism is critical to achieving chemical safety. Delegates focused on development aid but one even larger potential source of financing is the global chemical industry which generates more than USD $3 trillion turnover annually.[2] At ICCM2, the chemical industry repeatedly refused to contribute money directly to SAICM to help countries manage its products. “The industry wants to sell us their products, but not pay for their toxic impacts. The harm caused by the industry’s products is the reason we need SAICM in the first place,” said Professor Jamidu Katima, IPEN Co-Chair. “We join others in calling on the industry to pay their fair share.”

SAICM is currently not on track to achieve the 2020 goal. Implementation has advanced, but the pace has been slow and uneven. Public awareness of chemical safety issues remains low and inclusion of public stakeholders in relevant decision-making processes has been uneven.

IPEN still believes that SAICM has the potential to be a critical global framework to eliminate the harms caused by chemicals and remains committed to reaching the 2020 goal of a toxics free future.



####

For information on the NGO activities to implement SAICM, see the Citizens’ Report at
http://www.ipen.org/campaign/documents/education/citzreport_09.pdf


The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) is a global public interest NGO network with more than 700 Participating Organizations in 100 countries in all regions. IPEN Participating Organizations in many countries and in all regions collaborated to advance the common goal of creating a strong and effective global POPs treaty. IPEN now works with NGOs at regional, national, district and community levels in support of POPs elimination efforts at a step toward a future world where toxic chemicals no longer cause harm to human health or to the environment. www.ipen.org


[1] Dakar Statement on Manufactured Nanomaterials http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum6/f6_finalreport_en.pdf
[2] More than USD $3,000,000,000,000

Nine toxic chemicals added to banned list: UN

Nine chemicals, including headlice treatment lindane, have been added to a list of poisonous substances that are to be eliminated under the Stockholm Convention, the UN Environment Programme said on May 9, 2009.

More than 160 signatory states of the convention targeting hazardous substances that can kill or are seriously harmful to health, added the chemicals to the existing list of 12 after a week-long meeting in Geneva.

"The tremendous impact of these substances on human health and the environment has been acknowledged today by adding nine new chemicals to the Convention," said UN Under-Secretary General Achim Steiner in a statement.

"This shift reflects international concern on the need to reduce and eventually eliminate such substances throughout the global community."

The nine chemicals that member states have now committed to eliminate are:

- Lindane -- used in treatment of headlice and scabies, and in insecticides

- Alpha hexachlorocyclohexane -- a by-product of lindane

- Beta hexachlorocyclohexane -- a by-product of lindane

- Hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether -- used in flame retardants

- Tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether -- used in flame retardants

- Chlordecone -- used in agricultural pesticides

- Hexabromobiphenyl -- used in flame retardants

- Pentachlorobenzene -- used in fungicides, flame retardants

- Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride -- used in electric and electronic parts, photo imaging, textiles
On the Net:

* UN Environment Programme: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=585&ArticleID=6158&l=en

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UN's IMO adopts anti-environment & anti-worker Ship Breaking Treaty

Press Release

Ship owners & ship owning countries escape decontamination cost of toxic ships

IMO writes the obituary of Basel Convention

15 May 2009 New Delhi – Allowing ongoing contamination of once pristine beaches in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, today United Nations' International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted an International Convention on Ship Recycling in Hong Kong, China despite concerns about vulnerable workers and coastal environment.

Unmindful of the democratic process underway in India, IMO, EU and other participating countries unethically adopted the treaty at the IMO Diplomatic Conference following deliberations during May 11-15, 2009 even as the entire Indian government machinery remained occupied with the parliamentary elections.

A European Parliament resolution also condemned the breaking of ships on beaches this year but Europeans countries chose to adopt the treaty with such condemnable practice. Ships are dismantled primarily for secondary steel but ships are laden with hazardous waste and substances such as asbestos, oily wastes, PCBs and toxic paints. Notably, the issue of radioactive secondary steel and hazards from it remained unaddressed.

Trade Unions and NGOs working in the fields of workers rights, human rights, environment, and health, express total lack of faith in the proposed UN treaty on Ship Breaking/ Ship Recycling through IMO because its the provisions in the treaty are regressive in nature.

There were concerns over the entry-into-force criteria but now it has been decided by the IMO that the International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships should come into force 24 months after the entry-into-force conditions are met requiring not less than 15 states to ratify the convention.IMO conventions historically took five years after approval before they were finally ratified, but the IMO now had a three-year ratification target.

The treaty ends up giving incentives to those companies who exploit workers and pollute coastal environment. It is sad that now international legal provisions regulating trade in dead and obsolete ships would be in a suspension of sort.

IMO is following the footsteps of the WTO and its position on ship recycling proves that the institution is fundamentally flawed, designed to place corporate profits above the need to protect our environment, occupational health and even democracy.

Ship breaking/ Ship Recycling is industrial activity for the production of secondary steel. IMO has no competence to deal with such an industrial process which is competent only in maritime matters.

The draft IMO Convention on the Safe Recycling of Ships is a text has been prepared at the behest of the by the global shipping industry in general and European ship owning countries and ship owners in particular. It legitimizes the ongoing exploitation of workers, villagers and the marine environment and at the end of the life of a ship. As long the ship breaking operations has continued on pristine Alang beach there has not been and there will never bee safety either for workers or for the coastal environment.

The treaty fails to stop the fatally flawed technique of breaking ships through “beaching method”, where ships are cut open in the sea and tidal flats of the beaches of south Asian countries in a method in which it is impossible to contain oils and toxic contaminants from entering the marine environment, bring lifting cranes along side ships to lift heavy cut pieces or to rescue workers and bring emergency equipment (ambulances, fire trucks) to the workers or the ships Protect the fragile intertidal coastal zone from the hazardous wastes on ships.

The IMO treaty does not call for removal of ship breaking/ ship recycling operations on pristine beaches. It promotes ongoing pollution of the marine environment with impunity and it ensures that ship owners and ship owning countries escape accountability for their contaminated ships. This UN treaty does not alter the current grave yard status of shipbreaking yards in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The treaty is an attempt to undo the work done by the global environmental movement of the past to legislate and regulate through the UN’s Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court of India.

The IMO treaty does nothing to prevent hazardous wastes such as asbestos, PCBs, old fuels, from being exported to the poorest communities and most desperate workers in developing countries and ignores Polluter Pays/Producer Responsibility Principle, Environmental Justice/Transfer no Harm Principles, Waste Prevention/Substitution Principles and Principle of Environmentally Sound Management.

The treaty promotes externalization of cost of pollution that was so infamously championed by the Lawrence Summers, the Chief Economist, World Bank so that real costs and liabilities of ships at end-of-life gets transferred to developing countries like India.

The proposed IMO treaty is just a tool to further the unfair trade practices being advocated in the WTO at the behest of European governments in particular. The fact remains there is no unfair trade that does not fall under the ambit of WTO.

Local regulations such as in India requiring that imported products meet local standards on such matters as recycling, toxic substances, labelling and inspection can be easily overruled by the WTO Appellate Body, this IMO treaty makes their work easier. Consequently, we reject this act of legislation by a UN body on a subject which is beyond its competence and jurisdiction.

In any case it was unethical for the current Indian government officials to have been party to an international treaty at this stage.

The adoption of the treaty is akin to writing the obituary of the UN;'s Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal through the existing text of the IMO treaty on ship breaking /ship recycling. Basel Convention is a UN treaty controlling such hazardous wastes with 170 member countries and prohibiting the export of all hazardous wastes to developing countries, and they have adopted shipbreaking guidelines calling for a phase-out of the use of beaches for breaking ships.

It is noteworthy that IMO disregards the fact that some 80 percent of the global end-of-life ships are broken in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan on tidal beaches whose soft sands cannot support crucial safety measures such as heavy lifting or emergency response equipment and which allow pollution to seep directly into the delicate coastal zone environment. No country in the developed world allows ships to be broken on their beaches. Ship breaking is possible with proper technologies and infrastructure, and enforced regulations but most ship-owners choose to sell their ships through dubious cash buyers in tax havens by under reporting the price thus indulging in a black economy.


For more information contact:

Gopal Krishna, E-mail: krishnagreen@gmail.com, Mb: 9818089660, Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI)

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I.M.O. SHIP RECYCLING CONVENTION DENOUNCED AS “LEGAL SHIPWRECK”

SPEECH GIVEN BY THE NGO PLATFORM ON SHIPBREAKING ON THE BEACHING METHOD
Delivered by Jim Puckett

May 13, Hong Kong, International Conference on the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships

Thank you Mr. Chairman and good morning to you all. With this submission Greenpeace International and Friends of the Earth International submits to the Conference what has been obvious to the vast majority of ship recycling experts and waste management authorities. That is, that the “beaching method” whereby ships are run aground on ocean beaches for cutting and breaking apart in the intertidal zone can never be accomplished in a manner which is environmentally sound or protective of human health. Careful analysis of the intrinsic characteristics of beaching operations are conclusive that no amount of prescriptive improvements or protections can remedy the four fatal characteristics of intertidal beaching operations:

1. First there is the impossibility of containing pollutants on a tidal beach where hulls of ships are often breached accidentally or by cutting, or toxic paints erode or are abraded sending persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and oils onto the beach and into the seawater;

2. Second, due to a shifting and soft wet tidal sand surface, there is the impossibility of rapidly bringing emergency response equipment, including fire-fighting equipment and vehicles, ambulances and cranes along side the ship, to assist or remove persons hurt inside the hull;

3. Third, the impossibility of allowing cranes to work alongside to lift heavy cut sections of a ship and thereby preventing heavy cut sections from being subject to gravity, shifting or falling directly into workers or into the marine environment; and

4. Finally, there is the absolute incompatibility of conducting hazardous waste management operations (which is what they are as long as ships contain hazardous wastes, in the ecologically delicate and vital coastal zone.

These fatal flaws of the beaching method inevitably will result in causing avoidable death and pollution and thus make a mockery of the application of Regulation 19 of this Convention. No amount of band-aid guidelines and criteria can cure the malignancy inherent in beaching operations. To ask Parties to prevent adverse effects to human health and the environment from massive toxic ships on an intertidal beach already makes the fulfillment of this objective impossible. However the worst outcome is that by not drawing a clear line at the outset, this fatally flawed method will be legitimized, millions of dollars will be thrown into trying to mitigate the inherently inappropriate and dangerous working platform and the IMO will have succeeded in perpetuating death and pollution for many years to come.

Mr. Chairman, today we have brought to this important meeting and which will be made available to you all as an Information Document, a Statement of Concern, signed by the leaders of 107 civil society organizations in over 30 countries. The list includes 4 winners of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award including Rizwana Hasan who is with us today. Today we do not represent simply Greenpeace International, and Friends of the Earth, nor the greater NGO Platform on Shipbreaking alone. Today, we are bringing you the voice of the vast body of civil society environmental, development human rights, and labor organizations that have come together unanimously to sign a statement condemning this Convention as an historical failure, if it cannot muster the political courage to cease the scandalous pretense that scrapping aged ships containing hazardous wastes and oils on ocean beaches in the intertidal zone might be somehow a viable way to achieve the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships.

The IMO member states cannot continue to put their head in the sand and say that they will be “method neutral” as such a statement is “science deficient”. And indeed such a statement is morally deficient -- for to be “method neutral” is to be neutral on actual matters of life and death, for it is on the beaches of South Asia that approximately 50 workers per year are killed. How many of these deaths could have been prevented were proper equipment such as cranes, fire fighting vehicles, and ambulances been made accessible to the fallen workers? The fact that countries such as Norway, member States of the EU, the United States, and Japan can, within this august body pretend that this method is viable is in fact the height of hypocrisy, as such operations would be banned in those countries in an instant for violations of coastal zone management laws, occupational safety and health laws, and hazardous waste management laws.

With this submission we as the civil society stakeholder voice in these proceedings call for a prohibition on the beaching method, by amending Article 19 to include the following text:

Ship Recycling Facilities authorized by a Party shall establish and utilize procedures to:

New Paragraph One: ensure that ship recycling operations taking place on intertidal flats, or ocean beaches or other working platforms which prevent: rapid access to ships by emergency equipment; the ability to utilize cranes and lifting equipment at all times alongside vessels; and the possibility of full containment of pollutants during all cutting and stripping operations, are prohibited;

Additionally, we are proposing that a conference resolution on an implementation mechanism be agreed upon in Hong Kong, which shall include provisions for technical assistance to countries where the beaching method is used with an aim to directing funds toward phasing-out this breaking method and replacing it with dockside, slip, or dry dock platforms as a matter of urgency and global responsibility.

Finally, we are calling on Conference delegations to develop a Conference Resolution calling for the creation of such a fund for pre-cleaning during the useful life of a ship and prior to its final voyage and for safe recycling – applying established the principles of producer responsibility, polluter pays, and cost internalization.

We as civil society, believe that if the distinguished delegates take a moment to recall who and what this Convention is really for, the beleaguered marine environment and disempowered and desperate workers, they will then find the courage to take the vital steps we have proposed. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Conference to adopt ship recycling convention opens in Hong Kong

International Conference on the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, Hong Kong, China, 11-15 May 2009

A Diplomatic Conference to adopt an international convention on the recycling of ships was opened in Hong Kong, China, by the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Mr. Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, on Monday (11 May 2009). The convention, the first ever to address ship recycling issues, is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risk to human health and safety or to the environment.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Mitropoulos paid tribute to the contribution to the work of IMO made by Asia - "a region the leadership role of which in shipbuilding, shipowning, ship manning and ship recycling is recognized and duly appreciated worldwide". He told delegates that the conference represented the culmination of intense endeavours over several years to tackle the issue of ship recycling in a manner that will embrace the subject both from its ship-based aspects and those relating to facilities ashore.

"For countries that are active in the disposal of end-of-life ships, and for others aspiring to invest in this industry, ship recycling provides opportunities for employment and an economic and trading venture for tens of thousands of people, particularly in communities that are not among the wealthiest in the world. It also constitutes an activity that, by its very nature, is also regarded as environmentally beneficial - not to mention the wider re-use of most of a ship's fabric, materials, machinery, equipment and fittings. The fact that everything that constitutes a ship today may, tomorrow, pass on for use in the construction and ancillary industries; in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors; in small factories; in hospitals and other emergency centres; in hotels and households, displays another dimension of the activity that will occupy our minds this week. This makes it imperative that we intensify our efforts to ensure the success of the Conference, thus also ensuring that the convention we have come here to adopt, on the one hand lifts the safety and environmental levels of ships, recycling facilities and those who are employed on both and, on the other, does not interfere inadvertently with the vital process of constant renewal, thus creating an all-inclusive regulatory regime of the kind that has been among the hallmarks of IMO," he said.

The Conference was also addressed by Mr. Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and the President of the Conference, Mr. Xu Zuyuan, Vice-Minister for Transport of the People's Republic of China.

The five-day Conference, being held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), is taking place under the auspices of IMO, the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for safety and security at sea and prevention of marine pollution from ships, and is being organized with the support of the Government of China and the Marine Department of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Conference is the first such event that IMO has ever held in Asia and is being attended by delegations from some 66 IMO Member States and two Associate Members.

The following were elected as officers of the Conference:

President
His Excellency Mr. Xu Zuyuan, Vice-Minister for Transport, People's Republic of China

Vice Presidents
The Honourable Mr. Binyah Kesselly, Commissioner, Bureau of Maritime Affairs, Liberia
Her Excellency Ms. Liliana Fernández Puentes, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Panama to IMO
Captain Suat Hayri AKA, Deputy Undersecretary for Transport, Turkey

Chairman, Committee of the Whole
Mr. Andreas Chrysostomou (Cyprus), Chairman of IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC)

Chairman, Drafting Committee
Mr. Charles Darr, Office of Maritime and International Law, United States Coast Guard, United States.

Other officers will be elected as the Conference progresses.

For further information please contact:
Lee Adamson, Head, Public Information Services on 020 7587 3153 (media@imo.org) or
Natasha Brown, External Relations Officer on 020 7587 3274 (media@imo.org).

Source: IMO Briefing 20, 12 May 2009

ACTIVISTS CALL FOR BAN ON TOXIC SHIP BEACHING
Hong Kong, China. May 11, 2009. Human rights, labour and environmental organizations warned today that the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO), meeting this week to adopt a new convention on ship recycling, is poised to take a major step backwards from existing international environmental law. In a global “Statement of Concern” signed by over 100 organizations in over 30 countries, civil society leaders today called the draft IMO convention on ship recycling a “legal shipwreck” and called upon IMO delegates to ban the deadly “beaching” method of shipbreaking.

“The IMO draft Convention as it stands now is a legal shipwreck waiting to happen,” said Ingvild Jenssen, director of the NGO Platform of Shipbreaking. “It will not prevent a single toxic ship from being exported and dumped on the beaches of India, Bangladesh or Pakistan or any other developing country. We are sending out an SOS to the nations of the world to change their course and at the very least condemn the unsustainable and exploitive toxic beach breaking operations.”

80 percent of the global end-of-life ships are broken in Bangladesh and India on tidal beaches whose soft sands cannot support crucial safety measures such as heavy lifting or emergency response equipment and which allow pollution to seep directly into the delicate coastal zone environment. No country in the developed world allows ships to be broken on their beaches. While shipbreaking can be done in a safe and clean way with proper technologies and infrastructure, and enforced regulations, most ship-owners choose to sell their ships for significantly greater profit to substandard yards operating in countries without adequate resources to provide safeguards and infrastructure to manage the dangerous business. On the South Asian shipbreaking beaches, vulnerable migrant workers, many of them children, break apart massive and toxic ships by hand, often without shoes, gloves, hard hats or masks to protect their lungs from asbestos, and poison fumes. The International Labour Organization (ILO) considers shipbreaking on beaches to be among the world's most dangerous jobs.
End-of-life ships, scrapped primarily for their valuable steel, are considered hazardous waste under international law, because of the hazardous substances they contain, notably asbestos, oily wastes, PCBs and toxic paints.

The Basel Convention, a UN treaty controlling such hazardous wastes with 170 member countries, have decided to prohibit the export of all hazardous wastes to developing countries,[1] and they have adopted shipbreaking guidelines calling for a phase-out of the use of beaches to scrap ships. But the IMO draft Convention is at odds with, and undermines the environmental protections provided by the Basel Convention, meaning that one United Nations body is moving to squarely act against another.

“ Existing international law makes it illegal to export toxic waste to developing countries, to disproportionately burden the poor with pollution,” said Rizwana Hasan director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and this year’s winner of the international Goldman Environmental Prize for her work to halt toxic ship exports to Bangladesh.[2] “Instead of throwing a life-ring to big shipping interests, the IMO still has a chance to rescue the workers and the environment, and fulfill its original mandate, by keeping toxic ships off our ocean beaches. We are calling on China, as host country to provide the leadership to persuade the rest of Asia and the IMO to abide by the Basel Convention and to prevent toxic ships from being sailed to Asia and dumped on our continent’s ocean beaches.”[3]

LINKS and NOTES
[1] The European Union has implemented the Basel Ban Amendment and prohibits the export of toxic end-of-life European flagged ships in developing, non-OECD countries and is in the process of developing EU regulations specific to ship recycling. A EU Parliament resolution also condemned the breaking of ships on beaches this year.
[2] Two months ago the High Court of Bangladesh, following a legal challenge by BELA, declared all shipbreaking operations in Bangladesh to be illegal, and called for all incoming ships to be pre-cleaned of toxic materials prior to import.
[3] China has ratified the Basel Ban Amendment banning the export of toxic wastes from developed to developing countries and operates “non-beaching” dockside ship dismantling operations.
· Civil Society Statement of Concern www.shipbreaking.com/dmdocuments/other/statement_of_concern_imo.pdf
· “Off the Beach” Pamphlet www.shipbreakingplatform.com/dmdocuments/reports/offthebeach.pdf
· Platform Submission to Convention www.shipbreakingplatform.com/dmdocuments/submissions/SR-CONF-14.pdf
· Briefing Paper for IMO Convention www.shipbreakingplatform.com/dmdocuments/other/BP05_May_2009.pdf
· Draft IMO Convention www.ban.org/Library/MEPC_58-23.pdf
· Information on Goldman Environmental Prize http://www.goldmanprize.org/
Websites:
www.shipbreakingplatform.org
www.ban.org (top story)
www.imo.org/environment/mainframe.asp?topic_id=1782

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Why the IMO Ship Recycling Convention is a Failure

In the week of May 11-15 in Hong Kong, a new international treaty is expected to be adopted and signed. That treaty, created under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization, was meant to address the international shipbreaking crisis defined by:

• the environmental injustice of the worlds poorest communities and countries bearing a disproportionate burden from the hazardous waste, pollution, and other risks and harm posed by shipbreaking;
• the lack of producer/ship owner responsibility to internalize the costs of such risks;
• the disastrous waste management practices commonly employed in today’s largest shipbreaking yards, such as the practice of “beaching” – a method that endangers life, limb and the environment; and
• the lack of green, toxic-free design in the shipbuilding industry that would more appropriately eliminate the use of harmful substances and make ships more safely recyclable.

Despite repeated proposals over the last three years from civil society and labor organizations for treaty language that would address these prime facets of the shipbreaking crisis, the Convention now drafted fails on all counts.

Environmental Injustice – Unlike the Basel Convention and the Basel Ban Amendment’s principled stand of protecting developing countries from economically motivated dumping of hazardous wastes on their territories, and despite the request from the Basel Convention Parties to ensure an “equivalent level of control” to that required by the Basel Convention, the IMO Convention was designed without even the most basic of Basel Convention obligations in place (e.g. “state-to-state notification and consent prior to export, right of port states to prevent export/import, obligation to create recycling facilities nationally, obligation to minimize transboundary movement of wastes etc.)

Producer Irresponsibility – Despite widespread acceptance in most industrial sectors today for application of the “Polluter Pays” principle and “Extended Producer Responsibility” in order to internalize the costs and liabilities inherent in a ship, the IMO Convention only requires ship owners to conduct and maintain an inventory of hazardous substances onboard ships and to notify their flag state when a ship is ready for recycling. Despite shipowners benefitting economically from the life cycle of a ship, at the end of its useful life, the Convention gives shipowners a free ride to pass on the liabilities of the toxic materials to impoverished communities and developing countries. It is a passport to cost externalization and human exploitation.

Disastrous Waste Management Practices Condoned – One would think that the most obvious improvements a new treaty would demand would be mandatory technological criteria for safe and environmentally sound recycling of old ships. The fulfillment of these requirements would best be enforced via third party audited certification programs to ensure a level playing field globally for all ship recycling countries. But the IMO Convention has only made recommendations via guidelines for improving conditions in the shipyards and worst; the guidelines fail to condemn the practice of running old ships up on beaches and cutting into them on the sands. The beaching method provides no containment for pollutants and no solid footing or access for lifting cranes or emergency equipment. Finally, the Convention has nothing to say at all about the waste management operations downstream of the immediate ship recycling yard. This head in the sand approach can allow for horrific management of asbestos, PCB contaminated materials and other hazardous wastes.

No Mandate for Greening Design – Despite a mention of the substitution principle in the preamble to the Convention, there is any later reference to this principle, nor a requirement based on it, for a constant review of harmful substances used on ships with a view to substituting them with less harmful substances where possible. There are also no mandates to otherwise construct ships to make them easier and more safely dismantled.

The fact that the IMO Convention fails to address the most pressing problems with shipbreaking today, but rather consists only of bureaucratic mechanisms confined to identifying hazardous substances on a ship, and requiring countries to authorize their shipbreaking facilities, means that the Convention will do nothing to prevent the disproportionate dumping of toxic waste ships on developing countries and little to change the horrific status quo of 90% of today’s deadly and polluting shipbreaking operations. It stands as an exercise designed to give pretense to dealing with the exploitive conditions, while continuing to allow the shipping industry to profit from their continuance.

Source: PLATFORM ON SHIPBREAKING

IMO’S PRESS BRIEFING

New ship recycling convention set for adoption at Hong Kong Conference

Preview: International Conference on the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, Hong Kong, China, 11-15 May 2009

A new international convention on ship recycling is to be considered for adoption at a diplomatic conference to be held in Hong Kong, China, from 11 to 15 May 2009. The new convention is aimed at ensuring that ships when they are being recycled, after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risk to human health and safety and the environment.

The draft International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships has been developed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution from ships.

The new convention intends to address all the issues around ship recycling, including the fact that ships sold for scrapping may contain environmentally hazardous substances such as asbestos, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, ozone-depleting substances and others. It will address concerns raised about the working and environmental conditions at many of the world's ship recycling locations.

The draft text of the proposed ship recycling convention has been developed over the past three years, with input from IMO Member States and relevant industry organizations, and in co-operation with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Parties of the Basel Convention (BC). The draft was approved by IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), when it met for its 58th session at the Organization's London headquarters in October 2008.

Regulations in the new convention will cover: the design, construction, operation and preparation of ships so as to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships; the operation of ship recycling facilities in a safe and environmentally sound manner; and the establishment of an appropriate enforcement mechanism for ship recycling, incorporating certification and reporting requirements.

Ships to be sent for recycling will be required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials, which will be specific to each ship. An appendix to the convention will provide a list of hazardous materials the installation or use of which is prohibited or restricted in shipyards, ship repair yards, and ships of Parties to the convention. Ships will be required to have an initial survey to verify the inventory of hazardous materials, additional surveys during the life of the ship, and a final survey prior to recycling.

Ship recycling yards will be required to provide a "Ship Recycling Plan", to specify the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory. Parties will be required to take effective measures to ensure that ship recycling facilities under their jurisdiction comply with the convention.

A series of guidelines are being developed to assist in the convention's implementation.

The entry-into-force criteria for the convention (number of States and percentage of gross merchant shipping tonnage required) will be decided by the conference.

IMO's role in the recycling of ships

IMO's role in the recycling of ships, the terminology used to refer to ship scrapping, was first raised at the 44th MEPC session in March 2000, following which a correspondence group was established to research the issue and provide a range of information about current ship recycling practices and suggestions on the role of IMO. Guidelines on ship recycling were developed by the MEPC and finalized at the Committee's 49th session in July 2003, before being adopted by the 23rd IMO Assembly in November-December 2003.

At its 53rd session in July 2005, the MEPC agreed that IMO should develop, as a high priority, a new instrument on recycling of ships with a view to providing legally binding and globally applicable ship recycling regulations for international shipping and for recycling facilities. The IMO Assembly, in 2005, subsequently agreed that IMO should develop the new legally-binding instrument on ship recycling.

Ship recycling statistics

The main ship recycling countries are Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey.

The number of ships recycled each year is variable and ship recycling appears to be cyclical in nature. In recent years, the average age of recycled ships rose to around 32 years in the early 2000s, from around 26-27 years old in the 1990s. The low volume and high average age of recycled ships in recent times was explained, to a great extent, by the particularly buoyant state of the freight market in most shipping sectors up to 2008.

However, it is not thought that shipping markets alone drive recycling prices, or the volumes of recycling. The large price differentials that exist between different recycling markets are thought to reflect not only differences in labour and environmental compliance costs for recycling ships but, principally, differences in internal demand for ship steel and, consequently, the price obtained by the recyclers in each different economy.

Briefing 17, 7 May 2009

For further information please contact:
Lee Adamson, Head, Public Information Services on 020 7587 3153 (media@imo.org) or
Natasha Brown, External Relations Officer on 020 7587 3274 (media@imo.org).

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