Hazardous Waste Institute

CABINET has given the Minister of Environment and Tourism the go-ahead to sign an agreement establishing the Africa Institute for the Environmentally Sound Management of Hazardous and other Wastes.

The institute will provide training, technology transfer, information and research on the management of toxic waste. So far 10 English-speaking African countries have signed the agreement.Namibia has signed two international agreements on hazardous waste – the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and the Bamako Convention.The institute will help implement the conventions and other multilateral environmental agreements.Speaking at a Cabinet media briefing last week, the Acting Deputy Director of Environmental Affairs, Sem Shikongo, said whereas hazardous waste is usually associated with the developed, industrial world, African countries will encounter the same problems as they develop.He said the impact of hazardous waste on scarce water supplies and its implications for the spread of disease are especially worrying.Shikongo said other than fears of toxic waste pollution from the Ramatex textile factory, Namibia is fairly safe in terms of threats from the hazardous waste it generates.Convention on poisons NAMIBIA is to become a signatory of the Stockholm Convention, confirming its commitment to international and regional co-operation in ensuring the environmentally sound management of hazardous chemicals.The convention has outlawed 12 organic pollutants – aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, DDT, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, PCBs, dioxins and furans.Namibia, being a malaria-prone country, has obtained special permission to use DDT for mosquito control only.The Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted and signed in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2001.So far 10 English-speaking African countries have signed the agreement.Namibia has signed two international agreements on hazardous waste – the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and the Bamako Convention.The institute will help implement the conventions and other multilateral environmental agreements.Speaking at a Cabinet media briefing last week, the Acting Deputy Director of Environmental Affairs, Sem Shikongo, said whereas hazardous waste is usually associated with the developed, industrial world, African countries will encounter the same problems as they develop.He said the impact of hazardous waste on scarce water supplies and its implications for the spread of disease are especially worrying.Shikongo said other than fears of toxic waste pollution from the Ramatex textile factory, Namibia is fairly safe in terms of threats from the hazardous waste it generates. Convention on poisons NAMIBIA is to become a signatory of the Stockholm Convention, confirming its commitment to international and regional co-operation in ensuring the environmentally sound management of hazardous chemicals.The convention has outlawed 12 organic pollutants – aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, DDT, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, PCBs, dioxins and furans.Namibia, being a malaria-prone country, has obtained special permission to use DDT for mosquito control only.The Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted and signed in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2001.