African action on obsolete pesticides

A high level diplomatic conference of ministers and government officials from African governments has called for action to eliminate stockpiles of obsolete pesticides in the continent of Africa. 

The declaration was made at the conclusion of a conference held in Rabat, Morocco in January 2001. Nearly 150 delegates from 33 African countries, international organisations, NGOs and industry participated in the five day conference that set out to address how African countries could make progress in dealing with hazardous waste problems.
    Obsolete pesticides form the majority of hazardous waste in African countries, with industrial, clinical and other types of hazardous waste making up a relatively small proportion of the total. Under the recently negotiated Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Convention, PCBs as well as pesticide POPs will need to be disposed of. A key issue discussed was how to dispose of hazardous waste. At present there are no environmentally acceptable facilities in Africa.
    As the debate progressed with input from a range of experts, it became clear that the cement kiln option is far from cheap and easy. Using cement kilns can create new environmental contamination, the economics and logistics of cement kiln use are far from clear and legitimisation of their use can in some respect make waste problems worse. Meanwhile, non-incineration destruction technologies were being presented alternately as viable, proven options for use in Africa, and as experimental technologies that should not be tested in Africa. 
    Important outputs from Rabat were the Declaration on the Environmentally Sound Management of Unwanted Stocks of Hazardous Wastes and the Programme of Action for Africa for the Environmentally Sound Management of Unwanted Stocks of Pesticides, PCB and Used Oils.
    The Rabat Declaration calls on African governments and other stakeholders, and on the international community to take action to prevent new accumulation of hazardous waste stockpiles and dispose of existing ones. This assimilates much of the work and guidance developed by agencies such as FAO, UNEP, UNIDO, WHO and others into a series of prevention and cleanup activities that need to be implemented.
    The crucial messages from Rabat are that African governments are calling for action on obsolete pesticides and other hazardous wastes, and that financial and technical support are needed. (MD)

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No.51, March 2001, p19]