History of Ocean Dumping (Greenpeace International, September 1997) Origins Greenpeace first became involved in ocean dumping issues in the late 1970s, opposing radioactive waste dumping in the North East Atlantic. In doing so, it helped to break the "Out of Sight - Out of Mind" philosophy because until then it was not widely known that ocean dumping was taking place. The late 1970s was the time when most countries with a nuclear industry were increasingly looking at the ocean to dispose conveniently of their inconvenient wastes. Whereas in 1978, only the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium dumped radioac tive wastes, Germany (which had dumped in the 1960s together with France and Sweden), France, Italy and others were seriously considering a resumption. Japan had also undertaken a programme to dispose of its wastes in the Mariana Trench in the North Paci fic, and the US (which dumped large quantities on the East and West coasts in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s) were also planning to re-open the ocean disposal option for radioactive wastes, including large items such as decommissioned nuclear submarines. The 1972 London Convention regulates the worldwide dumping of wastes at sea, and the dumping of high-level radioactive wastes ON the seabed was prohibited, with only so-called low- and medium-level wastes allowed under special permits. However, in the late 1970s, the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) was hosting a Sub-Seabed Disposal Group (SDG) to co-ordinate a multi-million research programme funded by the UK, France, the US, Japan, and Germany among others in order to try and dispose of high-level radioactive wastes UNDER the sea bed. The London Convention & Greenpeace's involvement The 1972 London Convention had been designed to create a legal framework that would legitimize the dumping of wastes at sea, but Greenpeace's objective was to establish the view that it should ban radioactive waste dumping at sea. In 1981 Greenpeace was accepted as an observer at the meetings of the London Convention (London DUMPING Convention, as it was called then). This was to be the beginning of a slow but sustained process during which - using scientific, technical, legal, political, economic and social arguments - Greenpeace hoped to force governments to question the assimilative capacity of the oceans to absorb the increasing quantities of industrial wastes generated worldwide. Starting in the early 1980s, Greenpeace extended its original focus on radioactive wastes alone, to the dumping of industrial wastes generally, with actions against the dumping of Titanium Dioxide in Germany, France, the UK, Spain and other countries, as well as the incineration of organohalogen wastes by specially-built ships in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. As ocean dumping was increasingly phased out in the 1980s and the early 1990s, Greenpeace took advantage of the growing recognition that the oceans were no longer regarded as the rubbish bin of industrial society to also address the discharge of wastes from land-based sources, into riverine waters, estuaries and coastal waters. Land-based discharges are believed to currently represent 90% of all marine pollution inputs. Landmarks The following achievements are flagged by the UN and most governments as historic landmarks in international environmental policy. 1983: the London Convention Parties adopt by majority vote a two-year moratorium on the dumping at sea all radioactive wastes. For the first time since WW-II, no dumping would take place that year. 1985: the London Convention extends the moratorium for an indefinite period, pending further studies. The countries of the South Pacific sign the Treaty of Rarotonga which prohibits radioactive waste dumping at sea in the South Pacific. 1987: the Second Ministerial Conference for the Protection of the North Sea - The London Convention adopts the Precautionary Principle, and agrees to reduce by 50 percent the discharge of noxious wastes, and to prohibit the dumping of indus trial wastes in the North Sea. 1989: the London Convention adopts a resolution calling for a ban on the incineration of liquid noxious wastes at sea. The OSPAR Commission (the intergovernmental organisation that regulates marine pollution in the North East Atlantic) pr ohibits the dumping of industrial wastes in the area. 1990: the OSPAR Commission agrees to ban ocean incineration in the North East Atlantic. The London Convention adopts a resolution calling for an end to the dumping of hazardous industrial wastes. The Third Ministerial Conference for the Protection of the North Sea (Den Haag) agrees to reduce the discharge of wastes into the North Sea by at least 70 percent, and to prohibit the dumping of radioactive wastes into the North Sea. 1992: a Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Commission agrees to ban - notwithstanding France's and the UK's opposition - the dumping of radioactive wastes in the North East Atlantic, and to reduce by the year 2000 the discharge and emission o f organohalogens with the aim of their elimination. At its 15th Consultative Meeting, the London Convention formally drops the word 'Dumping' from its title, symbolising the shift from a purely regulatory role to one of restricting dumping practices. 1993: the London Convention is AMENDED and PROHIBITS PERMANENTLY the dumping of radioactive and industrial wastes at sea, and ocean incineration. 1995: the Fourth Ministerial Conference for the Protection of the North Sea (with reservation from the UK) : "[...] agrees to "continuously reducing discharges, emissions and losses of hazardous substances thereby moving to wards their cessation within a generation (25 years) with the ultimate aim of concentrations in the environment near background values for naturally occurring substances and close to zero concentrations for man-made synthetic substances." An intergovernmental conference meeting in Washington to adopt a Global Programme of Action to prevent pollution from Land-Based Sources agrees that there should be a LEGALLY-BINDING INSTRUMENT to reduce and phase out worldwide persistent organic pollu tants (POPs) that threaten to accumulate to dangerous levels in the marine environment Pursuant to the Brent Spar controversy, the OSPAR Commission adopts a moratorium (OSCOM Decision 95/1) on the dumping at sea of decommissioned offshore installations, notwithstanding reservations from the UK and Norway. This was worded as follows: "to agree on a moratorium on the disposal at sea of decommissioned offshore installations until the Oslo Commission or a Commission in its succession has adopted a Decision on the disposal of offshore installations with a view to banning th e disposal of such installations at sea..." This decision marked the beginning of a long process of negotiation that is scheduled to end in July 1998 at a Ministerial Conference of the OSPAR Commission. 1996: the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, within the framework of the Barcelona Convention, adopt a new Protocol to prevent marine pollution from land-based sources, establishing an obligation to adopt time-tables for the phasing out of substances that are toxic, persistent and liable to bioaccumulate, with priority to organohalogens, dioxins and furans. 1997: The new Labour government in the UK announces that it will join the other countries and work towards the aim of the cessation of discharges, emissions and losses of hazardous substances by the year 2020 (see 1995). UK Environment Minister Michael Meacher announces that the UK agrees that there is "a general presumption" against ocean dumping. At the same time, the UK and France both announce that they have abandoned for good all plans to dump radioactive wastes at sea. The Way Forward: In 1996, the Russian Federation was the only country still keeping the option of dumping radioactive wastes open (the London Convention amendment entered into force in all LC countries as well as all the countries Party to the Law of the Sea Conventio n, but the Russian Federation maintains a reservation; however at the most recent annual meeting of Contracting PArties to the London Convention, on 29 October 1997, the Russian Federation announced that they "will lift their reservation very soon"; this announcement was made pursuant to the completion of alternative land-based treatment facilities in Murmansk built and financed in partnership by Norway, Russia and the US). Yet, although it keeps its option open, the Russian Federation has, to the best o f our knowledge, not violated the prohibition decided in 1993. Australia was the only country member of the London Convention still dumping some industrial wastes in the Tasman Sea. On 29 October 1997, though, the Australian government announced that this dumping operation was terminated. As a result, Greenpeace has been able to increasingly devote attention to land-based discharges. Now, and in the future, the principal challenge is to ensure that the commitments to end those discharges are implemented expeditiously. In 1995 at the opening of the Fourth Ministerial Conference for the Protection of the North Sea, the representative of the French Minister made an interesting statement to explain why they could agree with the target of cessation of all discharges and emissions within 25 years: He recalled that if twenty-five years ago someone had suggested that ocean dumping would be prohibited in the 1990s, all "reasonable people" would have laughed, given that it would have appeared totally unrealistic. But it was not... Greenpeace continues to campaign in the hope that land-based discharges and emissions of toxic wastes can soon be seen as the world now sees ocean dumping: an obsolete and irresponsible practice that cannot be allowed to continue. Hazardous substances are defined as those which are toxic, persistent and liable to bioaccumulate. This text was prepared with Remi Parmentier, who has represented GPI at the meetings of the LC, OSPAR since the early 1980s, as well as meetings of the North Sea Conference and Barcelona Convention, and was involved in Greenpeace's ocean campaign since its beginnings in 1978.