GUIDELINES
INGENIEUR
International Agreements
on Environment related to
Waste Management
By Chan Fong Li
R
elated to environmental sustainability in
general and the management of waste in
particular, there are international norms,
understandings and agreements for countries
to follow for the good of mankind. Some of the
agreements published by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) make a good
reference for stakeholders involved in waste
management.
The Annex B of the Guidelines for National
Waste Management Strategies provides the
obligations under multilateral environment
agreements as follows:-
OBLIGATIONS UNDER MULTILATERAL
ENVIRONMENT AGREEMENTS
An important question for any country in developing
an integrated waste management strategy will
always be to consider what is necessary to ensure
that the country meets international expectations,
including its obligations under international
treaties. International norms and obligations arise
from several sources and take several forms:
The principles of sustainable development
and environmental policy, which are discussed in
Part III of this document and set out in numerous
different international texts, encapsulate
internationally accepted approaches to policy
choices.
Treaty level instruments such as multilateral
environmental agreements (MEAs) typically
contain both specific and general obligations
(This is explained below in more detail for the
6
38
VOL
– DECEMBER 2015
VOL64
55OCTOBER
JUNE 2013
Basel Convention and several other international
conventions).
Normative texts adopted by international
bodies, such as the United Nations and its
subsidiary bodies, or the UNEP Governing Council,
do not have binding force in international law but
set out the policy norms and standards which
countries are encouraged and expected to meet.
When countries determine their national waste
policies, they must meet their binding obligations
under international law. The principles and policy
norms do not have the same binding force, but
countries should only depart from these on an
exceptional basis, after careful examination of
the options and only where there is a compelling
rationale for doing so.
THE BASEL CONVENTION ON
TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF
HAZARDOUS WASTE AND THEIR
DISPOSAL
The obvious starting point is the Basel Convention.
The Convention deals with hazardous waste but
extends to “other waste”, namely household waste
and the ash from combustion of household waste
(all of these together referred to here as “Convention )݅