Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes
The African continent is disproportionately affected by the dumping of harmful chemical materials such as e-waste, pesticides and other hazardous waste, which threaten the environment and the health of African communities.
In 1989, the Basel Convention was established to prevent the shipment and disposal of hazardous waste from industrial to developing countries. To complement the Basel Convention, African Nations established the Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes, which came into force in 1998. It is aimed at protecting the health of populations and the environment of African countries through a ban on the import of all hazardous and radioactive wastes. It also prohibits the dumping of hazardous wastes in oceans and inland waters and their incineration on African soil, and promotes the minimization and control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes within the African continent. The Convention also aims to improve and ensure ecologically rational management and handling of hazardous waste within Africa, as well as the cooperation between African nations.
Following the first Conference of the Parties (COP-1) to the Bamako Convention in June 2013 in Bamako, Mali to reaffirm commitment to the Convention, a Second Conference of the Parties took place at the beginning of 2018 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire under the theme: The Bamako Convention: a platform for a pollution-free Africa. Over 35 countries, experts, private sector, civil society, and regional economic bodies participated.
The conference sought to redefine the way the convention is positioned in order to foster and strengthen its implementation, and to leverage the Convention as a platform for a pollution free-Africa, in line with the objectives of the African Union Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the resolutions adopted at the third United Nations Environment Assembly. A common message emerging from the Conference was that urgent actions and effective mechanisms should be developed at national and regional levels to effectively implement the Bamako Convention.
