By Time They Mastered Somalia, the Rules Have Changed! (Part XVII) Cont..

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Industrial Toxic Waste Refute Dumping in the Somali’s Offshore and Onshore

“Shadows shoot across the lands, darkness deepens, gone the light” By: Victor Ugo

Figure 1. Tentative Map of theSomali Polluted Areas by Toxic Waste Dumping by Italian Companies (Famiglia Cristiana, 1998)/ UNEP’s mission confirmed the Toxic Waste Dumping along the Somali coast.

Along with other internationally-driven illegal economic and other strategic interests, the industrial-scale (IUU) Illegal Unregulated and Unreported overfishing on the part of foreign fishing Vessel companies, the issue of the Toxic Wastes Refute disposal dumping in Somali’s Offshore and Onshore has contributed to the perpetuation and exacerbation of the deadly effects of the armed conflict which has been going on in Somalia for the last two decades. While Somalia itself has not yet an effective government, the United Nations and International Community has failed to tackle the Toxic Waste dumping issue and other closely related internationally-driven illegal activities in Somalia. The country has been subjected to extensive illegal dumping operations of Toxic and Radioactive wastes since the 1980s. The High Toxic Waste (HTW) dumping operations that have taken place both along the coast and the hinterland have extremely adverse effects on health, livelihoods and the future prospect of sustainable development of the local population.

Although many developing countries, especially African countries, have been victim of the adverse effects of highly toxic wastes (HTW) originated from the developed countries, the case of Somalia is particularly critical. In this respect, according to the UN Special Representative for Somalia Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdalla, “Piracy, Illegal Fishing and the Dumping of Chemical Waste, toxic and possibly nuclear waste in Somalia means struggle for power by Somali warlords is flawed. UNEP’s mission confirmed the toxic waste dumping along the Somali coast.

We would like to emphasize, in this report study and careful analysis the root cause evidence and its negative impact which the toxic waste dumping contributing significantly in the Somali environment and other under developing countries. It is really observable and noticeable that the Industrial Toxic Waste effects, cause serious consequences which is compromising potential danger and exposes irreversibly disgrace of:

1. The human health,
2. Natural environment,
3. Food security and
4. The long-term development prospects of the affected areas settled population

In the decades following the end of World War II in 1945. Development of synthetic fuels and alternative energy resources captured world’ attention in 1980. After almost two decades of explosive growth, electrical energy production from nuclear power plants. Environmental concerns led to an upset defeat of being developed for in-ground retorting. In 1974 the many companies started leasing huge acres of land in different countries. Following the 1979 accident at different countries, the United Nations (UNEPA and IAE) Nuclear Regulatory Commission required some changes in all plants that were of the same design as the disabled reactor. This decline was attributable in part to plant units were shutdowns, mostly for possible seismic deficiencies and some nuclear plants after the accidents. Since several of these units remained inoperative

Conservation, sustainable use and protection of natural resources including plants, animals, mineral deposits, soils, clean water, clean air, and fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Natural resources are grouped into two categories, renewable and non-renewable.

1. A renewable resource is one that may be replaced over time by natural processes, such as fish populations or natural vegetation, or is inexhaustible, such as solar energy. The goal of renewable resource conservation is to ensure that such resources are not consumed faster than they are replaced.
2. Non-renewable resources are those in limited supply that cannot be replaced or can be replaced only over extremely long periods of time. Non-renewable resources include fossil fuels and mineral deposits, such as iron ore and gold ore.
3. Conservation activities for non-renewable resources focus on maintaining an adequate supply of these resources well into the future.
4. Natural resources are conserved for their biological, economic, and recreational values, as well as their natural beauty and importance to local cultures
5. Conservation conflicts arise when natural-resource shortages develop in the face of steadily increasing demands from a growing human population
6. Controversy frequently surrounds how a resource should be used, or allocated, and for whom

Conflicts worsen when a natural resource crosses political boundaries. For example, the headwaters, or source, of a major river may be located in a different country than the country through which the river flows. There is no guarantee that the river source will be protected to accommodate resource needs downstream. In addition, the way in which one natural resource is managed has a direct effect upon other natural resources. Cutting down a forest near a river, for instance, increases erosion, the wearing a way of topsoil, and can lead to flooding. Eroded soil and silt cloud the river and adversely affect many organisms such as fish and important aquatic plants that require clean, clear freshwater for survival.

1. METHODS OF CONSERVATION .

The challenge of conservation is to understand the complex connections among natural resources and balance resource use with protection to ensure an adequate supply for future generations. In order to accomplish this goal, a variety of conservation methods are used, these include:

1. Reducing consumption of resources;
2. Protecting them from contamination or pollution;
3. Reusing or recycling resources when possible; and
4. Fully protecting, or preserving, resources.

increases and standards of living rise. From 1950 to 2010 the world population more than doubled to 6 billion people, with nearly 80 percent living in developing, or poorer nations. The large, developed nations, however, are responsible for the greatest consumption of natural resources because of their high standards of living.

To protect natural resources from pollution, individuals, industries, and governments have many obligations. These include prohibiting or limiting the use of:

1. Pesticides and other toxic chemicals,
2. Limiting wastewater and airborne pollutants,
3. Preventing the production of Radioactive materials, and
4. Regulating drilling and transportation of petroleum products.

Failure to do so results in contaminated air, soil, seas, oceans, rivers, plants and animals, the damages to fisheries and wildlife from the many oil spills. The ground surface impoundment (placing liquid or semiliquid wastes in unlined pits) keeps waste in long-term storage, but it is not considered a method of final disposal. About 8% percent of hazardous waste is injected into deep wells; 21% percent enters landfills (large, unlined pits into which solid wastes are placed) as its ultimate resting place.

The United Nations Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the serious problems of underground plumes of hazardous materials leaving the original disposal sites has only partial solutions at this time. The typical method of handling this problem is the drilling of wells around a plume’s perimeter. Hazardous materials are then removed from some wells, and water may be injected into other wells to produce a barrier to the plume’s motion. Drilling wells and monitoring holes near a Toxic site carries risks; a plume originally confined between Strata (horizontal layers of rock) may penetrate vertically through a drilled hole and escape confinement. A recent method of treatment for shallow plumes of Chlorinated Solvents depends on their chemical reactivity. A trench is dug around the leaking waste site and filled with a mixture of soil and powdered iron. The iron(Fe) then reacts with the chlorinated solvents, turning them into simple hydrocarbons, which are less hazardous.

Hazardous waste has a broad definition in common use, and has a narrow, specific meaning. In 1965 under the United Nations Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard guidelines, recognizing the need to segregate hazardous materials from:

1. General Solid Wastes—unwanted solid or
2. Semisolid Substances—to prevent soil and groundwater contamination

The International Standard Specifications there are passed acts such as:

1. In 1976 the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), regulating the use and management—including disposal—of PCB^*s and other toxic substances, was passed. PCBs had been widely used in the insulation of transformers and capacitors in electric power systems and had been discovered to cause cancer.
2. The Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) to address problems of solid-waste disposal and landfills.
   • PCB^* – Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s), toxic chemicals once widely used as stabilizers in a variety of industrial fluids.
3. Also in 1976 the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) were passed, regulating the generation, transportation, and management of hazardous wastes.
4. In the 1984 reauthorization of RCRA, was added the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA).

2 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ISSUES AND RATIFICATION:

Worldwide, about 400 million metric tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year. In 1989 the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal was adopted at a meeting convened by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEPA) and attended by 116 countries. Conservation legislation passed in the 1970s included:

1. the Endangered Species Act,
2. The Marine Mammal Protection Act,
3. The Clean Air Act,
4. the Clean Water Act, and
5. The Toxic Substance Control Act.

The Convention requires reduction of hazardous wastes and their movements across borders between countries. As of January 1996, 97 countries had ratified the Convention; the import of hazardous wastes has been prohibited by about 90 countries.

Hazardous Wastes Classification,

1. Solid, liquid, or gas wastes that can cause death, illness, or injury to people or destruction of the environment if improperly treated, stored, transported, or discarded.
2. Substances are considered hazardous wastes if they are ignitable (capable of burning or causing a fire),
3. Corrosive (able to corrode steel or harm organisms because of extreme acidic or basic properties),
4. Reactive (able to explode or produce toxic cyanide or sulphide gas), or
5. Toxic (containing substances that are poisonous).
6. Mixtures, residues, or materials containing hazardous wastes are also considered hazardous wastes.

Many dangerous substances can be used only with special precautions that decrease their risks. When discarded, these substances are no longer under the direct control of the user and may pose special hazards to people or other organisms that come in contact with them. Because of such potential risks, hazardous wastes are processed separately from ordinary wastes.

Reference Documents;

1. Greenpeace Italy(9/09/1992). Accessed on 25/01/2010. beppegrillo.it/200508/debiti_in_salot.html
2. Famiglia Cristiana (29/11/1998). Somalia: Il Traffico che uccide. Accessed on 25/01/2010. http://www.stpauls.it/fc98/4798fc84.htmGeneva, 8th of June, 2010
3. Paper Presented at the United Nations Human Rights Council 14th Session Panel Discussion on Toxic Wastes/ Contact information: Kasteeldrift 17, 3436 TL Nieuwegein, The Netherlands. Email: somacent@gmail.com
4. The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), Greenpeace and other international environmentalist organizations Reports/ UNEP’s mission confirmed the toxic waste dumping along the Somali coast.