use of meas in audit of waste issues -...
TRANSCRIPT
Use of MEAs in audit of waste
issues
International Center for Environment
Audit and Sustainable Development,
Jaipur
Session Learning Objectives
• Objective of the session
– To learn about Multilateral Environment Accords (MEAs) and
their implementation mechanisms
– To learn about MEAs related to Waste
– Approaches to audit of MEAs
– Discussion of 2 audit reports on MEAs
• The ultimate objective of this is to help participants plan
an environment audit on waste using MEAs
• Training method
• Exercise
• Presentation
Session Plan
• What are MEAs
• Introduction to major MEAs
– Helsinki Convention
– London/MARPOL
– Basel Convention (Bamako Convention & Waigani
Convention)
– Joint Convention
– Convention on Nuclear Safety
• Auditing MEAs
• Discussion of audits planned and conducted using
MEAs
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International awareness regarding waste
• At the 1992 Rio Conference, waste was made one of the
priorities of Agenda 21
- Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally,
nationally and locally and was adopted by more than 178
Governments at the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro
• At the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable
Development in 2002, the focus was on
– Initiatives to accelerate the shift to sustainable consumption and
production reduction of resource degradation, pollution and
waste
International awareness regarding
waste
• Implementation plan adopted by the Summit
– "Prevent and minimize waste & maximize reuse, recycling &
use of environmentally friendly alternative materials
– all stakeholders to minimize adverse effects on the environment
and improve resource efficiency
– This would include actions at all levels to:
» Develop waste management systems, with the highest priority placed
on waste prevention and minimization, reuse and recycling, and
environmentally sound disposal facilities, including technology to
recapture the energy contained in waste
» Promote waste prevention and minimization by encouraging
production of reusable consumer goods and biodegradable products
MEAs
• Multilateral Environmental Agreements or “MEAs” are
one of the most prominent features that regulate the
process of global environment protection
• a broad term that relates to any of a number of legally
binding international instruments through which national
Governments commit to achieving specific
environmental goals
– agreements may take different forms such as “convention,”
“treaty,” “agreement,” “charter,” “final act,” “pact,” “accord,”
“covenant,”“protocol,” etc
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MEAs
• MEAs a subset of the universe of international
agreements
– What distinguishes them from other agreements is their focus
on environmental issues, their creation of binding international
law, and their inclusion of multiple countries
• Over the past few decades, the number and scope of
international environmental agreements have grown
rapidly
– UNEP identified over 280 agreements which are wholly
directed to environmental protection as of December 2009
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MEA entering into force
Adoption
Signature
Ratification
Entry into force
Accession
Withdrawal or denouncing
Implementing MEAs
• On-the-ground’ implementation done by Parties at the
national level through domestic legislative and
administrative arrangements
• Compliance mechanisms like
– empowering the MEA’s institutions (such as COP, secretariats and
other subsidiary bodies) to periodically assess and evaluate
compliance with the MEA and to consider measures aimed at
improving compliance;
– requiring Parties to report on, monitor and verify compliance;
– requiring Parties to undertake national implementation plans; and
– setting terms for mechanisms to address and remedy non-
compliance
Implementing MEAs
• Institutions for Implementation
– Can review overall implementation of obligations under MEAs &
examine specific difficulties of compliance/ consider measures
aimed at improving compliance
– At institutional level, the Conference of the Parties (COP)
represents the primary decision making body for a MEA
• Reporting, Monitoring and Verification
– Reporting: in common formats by nations, national Plans
– Monitoring: data can be collected to assess compliance
– Verification: could involve independent sources for corroborating
national data and information
Implementing MEAs
• National Implementation Plans (NIPs)
– Can indicate how a State will strive to reach its obligations
under an MEA
– Components can include identifying sources of non-
compliance (e.g., laws, institutions, lack of capacity, social
norms, public and private sector considerations, etc.), methods
for addressing these sources, monitoring implementation, and
identifying funding resources
• NIPs can also provide for the establishment of a
national implementation agency or organization that
works with the MEA Secretariat to promote
implementation.
• Compliance Mechanisms
– States can consider the inclusion of non-compliance
provisions in a multilateral environmental agreement, with a
view to assisting parties having compliance problems and
addressing individual cases of non-compliance, taking into
account the importance of tailoring compliance provisions
and mechanisms to the agreement’s specific obligations
• Non-compliance frequently the result of incapacity
rather than intentional disregard for an agreement’s
rules
MEAs– London Convention
• London convention on Prevention of Marine Pollution
by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1975
– Entered into force in 1975
– Objective: to prevent pollution of the sea by the dumping of waste
and other matter that is liable to create hazards to human health, to
harm living resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to
interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea
– Dumping: defined as the deliberate disposal at sea of wastes or other
matter from vessels, aircraft, platforms or other man-made
structures, as well as the deliberate disposal of these vessels or
platforms themselves
London Protocol
– Annexes list wastes which cannot be dumped and others for which a
special dumping permit is required
• In 1996, the ‘London Protocol’ was agreed to further
modernize the Convention and, eventually, replace it
– Under the Protocol all dumping is prohibited, except for possibly
acceptable wastes on the so-called "reverse list", contained in an
annex to the Protocol
– Protocol entered into force on 24 March 2006
– currently 38 Parties to the Protocol
– India has not ratified this treaty.
MEAs-- MARPOL
• The MARPOL Convention for the Prevention of
Pollution from Ships, 1978
– Main international convention covering prevention of
pollution of marine environment by ships from
operational or accidental causes
• Annex I Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil (entered into
force 2 October 1983)
• Annex II Regulations for the Control of Pollution by Noxious Liquid
Substances in Bulk (entered into force 2 October 1983)
• Annex III Prevention of Pollution by Harmful Substances Carried by Sea in
Packaged Form (entered into force 1 July 1992)
MEAs-- MARPOL
• Annex IV Prevention of Pollution by Sewage from
Ships (entered into force 27 September 2003)
• Annex V Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from
Ships (entered into force 31 December 1988)
• Annex VI Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships (entered into
force 19 May 2005)
• India is a party to the agreement
• Has specific laws, as for instance the Indian Merchant Shipping
Act, 1958, which gives effect to the international convention for
prevention of pollution of the sea by oil
MEAs– Basel Convention
• The overarching objective: protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes
• Scope of application covers a wide range of wastes defined as “hazardous wastes” based on their origin and/or composition and their characteristics
– Includes E waste– the largest growing waste stream across the world
• Drafted in light of dumping of wastes by developed countries into developing countries including old and discarded computers and other electronic products
• Has special significance to India in view of, among other things, the large ship-breaking industry on the west coast as also the flourishing Information and Telecommunication industry
• India ratified the Convention effective from 24th June, 1992.
MEAs– Basel Convention
• The provisions of the Convention center around the
following principal aims:
– reduction of hazardous waste generation and the promotion of
environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, wherever
the place of disposal;
– the restriction of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes
except where it is perceived to be in accordance with the principles of
environmentally sound management; and
– a regulatory system applying to cases where transboundary
movements are permissible.
• Has links with regional hazardous waste regimes, in particular
– the 1991 Bamako Convention (which came into force in 1998)
– The 1995 Waigani Convention (which came into force in 2001)
Agreements regulating radioactive
waste
• Radioactive waste is in an exceptional position, can be
fatal if not handled properly
– No widely endorsed convention that explicitly
addresses the issue of nuclear waste.
• More states have ratified the general convention that
states precautionary principles regarding nuclear
management
Agreements regulating radioactive
waste
• Joint Convention
– The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and
on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management the first legal
instrument to address these issues directly on a global scale, Entered
into force on 18 June 2001
• Convention on Nuclear Safety
– Global agreement that was adopted in Vienna in 1994
– Aim is to legally commit participating states that operate land-based
nuclear power plants to maintain a high level of safety by setting
international benchmarks to which states would subscribe
Auditing MEAs
• If a country is a Party to an MEA
– Audit can consider
• whether government has developed sufficient and appropriate
domestic policy and procedures to meet commitments in the MEA
• Requires the auditor to find out what the commitments are
• How these commitments are implemented in the country’s
legislation
• What are the governance mechanisms
Auditing MEAs
• When domestic policy and procedures in place
– these are a good source of criteria for evaluating if they actually are
implemented and enforced
– Audit can consider whether the policy is implemented in the most
efficient, economic, and effective manner
– Can involve the assessment whether
• aims of the policy are met
• whether the domestic policy actually serves the purpose (and
commitments) of the MEA
• If periodic reporting required under an MEA
– reports can be validated
– Validating the reporting material provided to international bodies is
one way of drawing the legislature’s attention to meeting the
international commitments
• If a country is not a Party to an MEA
– then the MEA can still be a good source of audit criteria for the SAI
– Many agreements can be referred as a best practice or a benchmark
for better environmental governance
Auditing MEAs
Audit questions
• What are my country’s commitments related to a specific MEA?
• Is there domestic policy and legislation in place?
• Can the policy and legislation assure the compliance with these
commitments?
• Is the policy and related legislation actually implemented and
enforced?
• Is it implemented in the most economic, efficient and effective
manner?
• Does the policy implementation meet the commitments of the
MEA?
Audit questions
• Is my country providing sufficient, appropriate and timely
information/reports to the MEA secretariat?
• Is this information/report correct?
• Is this information reviewed by a national parliament?
Report
of the audit on the enforcement of Basel
Convention
• SAI of the Netherlands and it is carried out by a total of
eight audit institutions (the Netherlands, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Norway, Poland, Greece, Ireland and
Slovenia) during 2011-2012
• how the obligations, arising from Basel Accord, –
regulating and supervising the waste shipment within,
into and out of the European Community – are met and
whether the purpose of the regulation had been
reached
• Found that compliance to Basel was not completehttp://www.environmental-auditing.org/Portals/0/AuditFiles/Hungary_s_eng_EU-
regulations-on-waste-shipment.pdf
Sustainable Management of Fishery
Resources
• Objective: commitments made by the Brazilian Government during the Rio-92 Conference are being internalized into domestic public policy, specifically the ones under the Conventions on Climate Change, Biological Diversity, Combat Desertification and Agenda 21
– This audit was also an opportunity to carry out an exploratory case study of one aspect that is part of both Agenda 21 and the Convention on Biological Diversity, evaluating the management of fishery resources in Brazil.
– The case study also illustrates the complexity of conciliating economic, social and environmental aspects in policies designed to exploit natural resources
http://www.environmental-auditing.org/Portals/0/AuditFiles/Brazil_s_eng_Sustainable-Use-of-Fisheries.pdf
Audit on the Fulfillment of the Convention on
Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar
Convention)
• Portuguese Court of Auditors conducted an audit aiming to assess
the accomplishment of the commitments undertaken within the
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar
Convention), to evaluate the management of the resources
allocated to wetlands protection and conservation and the results
obtained under an environmental standpoint
– The audit concluded that the existing legal framework, although there is
no specific legal framework or even the legal definitions for the concepts
of wetland and sustainable use of wetlands, provide adequate protection
– Wetlands listed as Ramsar sites enjoy the status of protected areas and
are mostly also included in the Natura 2000 network.
– The ecological conditions of listed wetlands are satisfactory and only
occasionally have threats to their sustainability been identified
http://www.environmental-auditing.org/Portals/0/AuditFiles/Portugal_s_eng_Fulfilment-of-
RamsarConvention.pdf