Overview
The Bamako Convention urges member states to effectively manage and restrict the cross-border transport of hazardous wastes across Africa. Encompassing a broader range of wastes than the Basel Convention, it addresses the shortcomings identified in Article 11 of the latter, offering a comprehensive response to the continent's environmental challenges.
Objectives of the Convention
The Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa (Bamako Convention) is a treaty of African nations, which prohibits the import into Africa of any hazardous (including radioactive). It was negotiated by 12 nations of the African Union (formerly Organization of African Unity) in Bamako, Mali, 30 January 1991. The Convention entered into force on 22 April 1998.
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The Convention specifically encourages Member States:
To minimize and control transboundary movements of hazardous wastes within the African continent.
- To prohibit all ocean and inland water dumping or incineration of hazardous wastes;
- To ensure that disposal of wastes is conducted in an “environmentally sound manner;
- To promote cleaner production over the pursuit of a permissible emissions approach based on assimilative capacity assumptions;
- To establish the precautionary principle.
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Major Provisions
The Convention covers more wastes than covered by the Basel Convention as it not only includes radioactive wastes but also considers any waste with a listed hazardous characteristic or a listed constituent as a hazardous waste. The Convention also covers national definitions of hazardous waste. Finally, products that are banned severely restricted or have been the subject of prohibitions are also covered under the Convention as wastes.
Countries should ban the import of hazardous and radioactive wastes as well as all forms of ocean disposal. For intra-African waste trade, parties must minimize the transboundary movement of wastes and only conduct it with consent of the importing and transit states among other controls. They should minimize the production of hazardous wastes and cooperate to ensure that wastes are treated and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.
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A response to the Basel Convention
The Bamako convention is a response to Article 11 of the Basel convention which encourages parties to enter into bilateral, multilateral and regional agreements on Hazardous Waste to help achieve the objectives of the convention.
The impetus for the Bamako convention arose also from:
- The failure of the Basel Convention to prohibit trade of hazardous waste to less developed countries (LDCs);
- The realization that many developed nations were exporting toxic wastes to Africa (e.g., Koko case in Nigeria, Probo Koala case in Ivory Coast, among others.)
The Convention specifically encourages Member States:
- To prohibit the import of all hazardous and radioactive wastes into the African continent for any reason;
- To minimize and control transboundary movements of hazardous wastes within the African continent;
- To prohibit all ocean and inland water dumping or incineration of hazardous wastes;
- To ensure that disposal of wastes is conducted in an environmentally sound manner;
- To promote cleaner production over the pursuit of a permissible emissions approach based on assimilative capacity assumptions;
- To establish the precautionary principle;
- Information Exchange: A transparent framework is emphasized, with nations mandated to share information about hazardous wastes, their effects, and best practices for disposal and management;
- Building Capacities: Recognizing the varying capabilities of African nations, the Convention promotes the building of national capacities, ensuring that countries can manage hazardous wastes domestically without resorting to cross-border movement.