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Land-Based Discharges of Marine Debris

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Land-Based Discharges of Marine Debris CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Erasmus University Digital Repository Marine Pollution Bulh, tin, V~.~l, 28, No. I I, pp. 649-652, 1994 Copyright © 1994 Elscvier Science Ltd Pergamon 0025-326X(94)00146-4 Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0025-326X/94 $7.00 + 0.00 Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Arctic) are Land-Based Discharges of covered by more or less operational programmes for Marine Debris: From Local to land-based pollution, whereas programmes for the South East Pacific and the Persian Gulf are as yet Global Regulation dormant (Nollkemper, 1992). Equally significant, exist- ANDRE NOLLKAEMPER ing programmes have been inadequate. They have not Faculty of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, addressed the full range of sources of marine debris; PO Box 1738 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands" they have treated land-based pollution too much as an isolated problem, as if unrelated to waste generation; This article outlines the major regulatory requirements and have provided insufficient inducements by way involved in the control of land-based discharges of of information exchange, technical co-operation and marine debris, and reviews the main developments in financial assistance to move marine debris higher on the the process towards more appropriate international agenda of, in particular, developing states. Each of these controls of such discharges. problems will be elaborated below. The bleak prospects for adequate regional solutions rightly has set in motion a global process. Responding Marine debris poses a continuing threat to marine to the imperatives set forth in Agenda 21 (adopted at ecosystems. Most visibly, it has resulted in entanglement the 1992 UNCED), a global programme of action for of marine wildlife. Debris washing up on beaches may land-based sources of marine pollution is now being also have considerable economic impacts, such as lost prepared, scheduled for adoption in November 1995 in tourism and recreation potential. Most of the concern Washington, DC, with prepatory meetings in Nairobi, has focused on debris discharged from vessels. How- December 1993 and Montreal, June 1994 and ever, there is now ample evidence that land-based Reykjavik, March 1995. This programme should discharges are a major source of marine debris. Much constitute a commanding global strategy to re-activate of the existing knowledge on these issues was presented existing regional instruments and induce the intro- at the Third International Conference on Marine duction of such instruments in regions where land- Debris, May 1994, Miami. based pollution is an as yet unregulated source of Absence of sewage treatment installations, combined disturbance of marine ecosystems. Marine debris, sewer outflows, storm water discharges, run-off landfills having been identified in Agenda 21 as one of the main sited nearby rivers and in coastal areas, absence of forms of land-based pollution, will be one of the focal waste services or landfills in rural ares, and beach litter- points sources of the global programme of action. ing all contribute to debris ending up on beaches or in The following three sections will indicate the main oceans. issues to be addressed in future regional agreements, Regulation of such land-based discharges has been and to be supported and guided by the global underdeveloped. In many states, local and national programme of action. rules are anywhere between absent and inadequate. The argument that local and national efforts should be Coverage of All Land-based Sources of Marine backed up by international regulations is well Debris established. In summary, such regulations serve to induce states to install sewage treatment works, to Existing regional regulations have not focused on prevent industrial discharges of plastics and to under- marine debris as a priority issue. They have mostly take other preventive action where they are otherwise confined themselves to two sources of debris: point unwilling, or incapable of doing so; to prevent sources and sewage installations. economic disruptions that may be caused by unilateral Point sources have justifiably been covered by actions such as mandatory packaging controls; to regional instruments. There is evidence of industrial prevent transboundary pollution of marine debris; and discharges of debris from point discharges to surface to offer economics of scale in such fields as public waters (Bauer & Iudicello 1990, at 79). Agreements for awareness and education, and development and the North East Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediter- application of clean production processes. ranean Sea have included floatables in the black list, Yet, in marked contrast to the regime for sea-based and thereby obliged states to eliminate discharges of pollution (Annex V to MARPOL 73/78), international floatables. However, this has largely remained a rules to induce appropriate national and local policies symbolic obligation. Whereas specific targets have been on land-based discharges lead a marginal existence. For developed for other black list substances, such as one thing, too few states have been willing or able to mercury and cadmium, none have been developed for participate in regional instruments. Some 20 years after floatables. the first regional instrument, at present only several Sewage treatment has elicited more regulatory regions (the North East Atlantic, the Mediterranean activity (more caused by concern over nutrient inputs 649 Marine Pollution Bulletin than over solid wastes). Several fora have set targets for is true that this is an unrewarding object of legal sewage treatment, for instance for the Mediterranean controls; littering by individuals spending their day on Sea (in 1991 the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona the beach or along river-shores, or who dump thrash Convention adopted a plan for the collection, treatment from bridges into rivers resists effective control by any and disposal of sewage for each Mediterranean coastal law, and enforcement is bound to be haphazard and city with a population of over 10 000 inhabitants); the accidental. But there is a clear need for programmes Black Sea (in the 1993 Ministerial Declaration the focusing on educating and informing the public about coastal states agreed to construct sewage treatment consequences of littering. plants as a matter of urgency), the North Sea (as Future instruments on land-based pollution should, recently confirmed in the Statement of Conclusions of depending on the nature of the debris problem in a the intermediate Ministerial Meeting, 7-8 December specific region, to a greater extent cover the full scope 1993, Copenhagen), the North East Atlantic, the Euro- of land-based sources of debris and extend themselves pean Union and the United States and Mexico. The to sewage and waste water treatment, waste services, degree to which these agreements have been able to design, siting and operation of landfills, storm drains, reduce discharges of untreated sewage differs. For and other measures for managing wastes. instance, in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea Major support for such a broadened scope can be such discharges are still abundant. A key barrier to provided by the global programme of action. At the more effective programmes is the lack of adequate moment of writing, the contents of the global funding. programme of action as regards land-based discharges Next to the often unsuccessful programmes con- of marine debris has yet to be developed. In part, it can cerning point discharges and sewage treatment, other build on the targets contained in Agenda 21 which: (i) sources of marine debris have rarely or not been contains targets for ensuring that sewage, waste water addressed. and solid wastes are treated and disposed of in con- Storm water run-off from urban areas, construction formity with national or international environmental areas and landfills is a major land-based source of and health quality guidelines; (ii) requires improvement debris. The USA Environmental Protection Agency of coastal human settlements, inter alia in treatment and concluded that storm water run-off is one of the most disposal of solid wastes; (iii) contains recommendations significant remaining threats to the quality of surface for public awareness and education; and (iv) sets water in the United States (20 BNA Env't Rep., 1992, objectives for extending waste service coverage in p. 2569). A 1990 Recommendation of the Helsinki urban areas. The global programme of action needs to Commission on Reduction of Discharges from Urban build on, extend and specify these targets. Areas by Proper Management of Stormwater is an isolated and rare effort to induce national controls for Integration with Prevention of Waste this source. Generation Where stormwater and sanitary sewage systems are combined, in wet weather, the capacity of sewage Existing instruments have been drafted to deal, and treatment facilities can be overwhelmed resulting in indeed have dealt with, land-based pollution as an untreated discharges. In the USA, overflow isolated problem, rather than as an integral part of mechanisms, built into such systems to divert the larger problems of waste generation and management. wastewater and stormwater to avoid overloading the It is now clear that this is an ineffectual approach. A sewer system, are one of the major land-based sources strict separation between land-based pollution and of plastics (20 BNA Env't Rep., 1990, p. 1842). This overall waste management and reduction policies can problem has drawn little international attention. no longer be deemed acceptable. Run-off from landfills sited nearby rivers or in Land-based marine pollution, including pollution coastal areas may end up in the marine environment. In from upland discharges of marine debris, are not to be the USA, many estuaries have been affected by thrash considered an isolated set of problems. Rather, they are as a result of solid waste sitings near estuaries (23 BNA an integral part of sound environmental management Env't Rep., 1992, p. 1428). There is a clear need for and pollution control for every waste management regulations ensuring that solid waste facilities do not activity.
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