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Report proposes stronger ASEAN response to fight global waste dumping

  • Publication Date | August 4, 2021
  • Document Type | Media Statement
  • Programmes | Pollution & Extractives
  • Issues | Pollution, Waste
  • Tags | ASEAN, Basel Convention, Covid-19, waste trade
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This is a joint press statement by SAM and the Ecowaste Coalition

While governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have individually taken action to address incidents of illegal waste shipments from affluent and more developed countries, the 10-member bloc has yet to unify and boost up efforts to protect the region from the drawbacks and hazards of the global waste trade.

Released in time for the commemoration of the ASEAN Month, the report titled “Waste Trade in Southeast Asia: Legal Justifications for Regional Action” notes the lack of a common and regional response to the waste trade issue despite headline-grabbing dumping controversies that hit Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand in recent years.

Published by the environmental health and justice group EcoWaste Coalition with the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), the report finds the current legal and policy responses inadequate to  stop the entry of illegal waste, and more importantly, insufficient to protect the health of both people and the environment.

The report highlights the fact that waste trade is an ASEAN issue, that country case studies illustrate how the waste trade exacerbates existing waste management challenges, and that an ASEAN response to the waste trade crisis would help countries strengthen their efforts to protect the region’s rich ecosystems and biodiversity for communities and future generations.

“Broad ASEAN and bilateral initiatives, national laws and legal frameworks, and recent trends in national action addressing illegal waste shipments, provide ample legal justifications for stronger regional action against harmful global waste trade,” said report lead author Atty. Gregorio Rafael P. Bueta, a legal and policy specialist and advocate for environmental rights and justice.

“ASEAN needs a declaration calling for a clear and concrete stand on waste trade, which shall, among other things, call on member states to immediately ratify the Basel Convention Ban Amendment, take steps to ban all waste shipments into their countries, improve enforcement and compliance capacity, and include a focus on upstream policies that will look at reduction of production of sources of pollution such as plastics,” added Bueta who also teaches environment and natural resources law at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law.

”The ASEAN region should take collective action to address the production of plastics, unregulated recycling, trade and disposal of plastic waste.   Exporting countries must take responsibility for their plastic reduction and recycle domestically. We need to protect our borders and communities from the dumping of waste and plastic pollution,” said Meenakshi Raman, President of Sahabat Alam Malaysia.

“A concerted ASEAN response will add force to national efforts to put a stop to the influx of foreign waste and help frontline communities in defending themselves from its adverse and unjust impacts, including environmental pollution from dumping, incineration, chemical recycling of plastic waste and other  schemes that can discharge highly toxic contaminants and harm human health and that of plants and wildlife,” said Chinkie Peliño Golle, IPEN Regional Coordinator for Southeast and East Asia.

According to the report, tackling waste trade in the ASEAN region is important for several reasons.  First, many ASEAN member states are already facing a waste crisis managing large volumes of domestic waste, made worse by the on-going Covid-19 pandemic. Second, ASEAN countries need to tackle other pressing environmental issues in some of the most biodiverse and natural resource-rich regions in the world – these include deforestation, illegal wildlife trafficking, and air and water pollution, among others. Third, the risks brought about by climate change, and the need to meet climate adaptation and mitigation goals, are also related to the issue of waste trade.

Aside from issuing a clear regional stance on waste trade, the report recommends the establishment of a regional mechanism that will put into effect the provisions of an ASEAN Declaration curbing and banning waste trade into the region.

The report further recommends creating a regional Experts Group/Technical Working Group on waste management and waste trade, and drafting and approval of an ASEAN-level agreement that will protect the region from global waste trade.

At the webinar held today to launch the report, environment and advocacy groups across ASEAN expressed support for the report’s findings and recommendations,  and urged governments across the region to take action against waste trade.

Co-organising the webinar with the EcoWaste Coalition and IPEN-SEA were the Ecological Alert and Recovery-Thailand, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Nexus3 Foundation-Indonesia, Sahabat Alam Malaysia and Parabukas. 

Note to editor/journalists:

Weblink to the full report can be accessed at tinyurl.com/ASEANWasteTrade2021

If you would like to interview the report author Atty. Gregorio Rafael Bueta, please contact him via e-mail at grpb.law@gmail.com

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Testimonials

Sahabat Alam Malaysia adalah satu badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang telah sekian lama berjuang mempertahan kelestarian alam. Ia juga mendidik masyarakat tentang pentingnya kebersamaan dalam pemikiran dan tindakan agar alam ini dapat kita wariskan kepada generasi hadapan dalam keadaan yang elok dan terpelihara. Dalam pada itu juga SAM giat membantu golongan nelayan pantai dalam memperjuangkan hak-hak mereka sehinggalah tertubuhnya Persatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING). Nelayan pantai sepenuh masa ini dididik oleh SAM sehingga mereka mampu memainkan peranan sebagai pemimpin nelayan yang meneruskan kesinambungan memperjuangkan hak-hak nelayan pantai lainnya. Sebagai contoh SAM telah berjaya menyedarkan masyarakat nelayan keperluan menjaga hutan paya bakau untuk kebaikan hasil tangkapan nelayan itu sendiri.
Jamaluddin Mohamad Bualik
Jamaluddin Mohamad BualikPersatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Jaringan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING)
During the 1980s, I used to read about the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) in the news. After retirement, some time in 2001, while lazing around, I read news about the construction of a carbon in leach plant using sodium cyanide to extract gold in Bukit Koman. My friends and I visited CAP and we were introduced to SAM and her legal team. We discussed the details of filing a case against the gold mining company and the department of environment with Ms Meenakshi Raman and her legal team. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between lawyers from SAM and many of us from Bukit Koman. We had many ups and downs in our struggle to shut down the gold mine that was causing a nuisance in our village. But, as a community we never gave up because SAM had our backs.
Hue Fui How
Hue Fui HowSecretary, Bukit Koman Ban Cyanide in Goldmining Action Committee (BCAC)
Sahabat Alam Malaysia adalah sebuah NGO yang memperjuangkan nasib masyarakat luar bandar khasnya. SAM menerima aduan-aduan masyarakat dan menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi. SAM telah mewujudkan ramai aktivis-aktivis sosial dan alam sekitar. Pada era 1980 dan 90an SAM sangat dihormati oleh masyarakat dan agensi kerajaan. Apabila media sosial menguasai maklumat maka SAM pun terkesan dan masalah masyarakat terus disalurkan dengan pelbagai cara. SAM perlu mewujudkan aktivis-aktivis pelapis yang muda untuk terus membantu masyarakat. SAM juga perlu membuat perubahan supaya banyak turun kelapangan dan jangan mengharapkan laporan media sahaja. Tingkatkan prestasi sebagaimana pada zaman kegemilangan SAM di era 80-90an.
Che Ani Mt Zain
Che Ani Mt Zain
SAM taught me the importance of social activism and the role it plays in upholding the rights of people and the protection of the environment. In my experience, SAM has never hesitated to speak up in defence of people and their environment, and has gone the extra mile to champion their rights, by helping communities take their battles to the higher ups and even to the courts.
Jessica Binwani
Jessica BinwaniPublic/Private Interest Lawyer
Semenjak kami kenal SAM, banyak pengalaman dan pengetahuan yg kami dapat. Kami telah belajar cara membuat baja asli daripada SAM. Semenjak itu, bermulalah minat kami dalam aktiviti pertanian. Dengan memperolehi kemahiran dalam membuat baja asli dan penanaman lestari, kami juga telah dapat menambahkan pendapatan sampingan kami. Ini lebih baik daripada tanah kami terbiar dan tidak diusahakan. Terima kasih SAM kerana sudi memberi bantuan dan tunjuk ajar kepada Persatuan kami.
Chedo Anak Nyuwen
Chedo Anak NyuwenPersatuan Penduduk Sg Buri, Bakong, Marudi
My journey with SAM started when her community organisers took me to the meet the paddy farmers of Kedah, connecting my growing interest in environmental law with our people who struggle to work the land in the face of pollution, replacement of traditional seeds with commercial hybrids and their accompanying chemical package of fertilisers and weedicides. I then had the honour to work with SAM in the struggle for the rights of the native communities of Sarawak, in defence of their forests from massive logging and destructive mega-projects. In every issue that SAM takes up, she combines rigorous research with the realities and voices of the communities to advocate for policies and laws that care for people and nature. From the courts to the elected legislators to policy makers and implementers and to the United Nations, SAM walks side by side with the communities in Malaysia. How can I not be inspired by the vision and passion of the generations of women and men who coalesce to form SAM?
Chee Yoke Ling
Chee Yoke Lingstudent of SAM, Executive Director of Third World Network, SAM’s sister organisation

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Tel: +604 827 6930
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Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Headquarters)
No. 1, Jalan Joki, 11400 Penang,
Malaysia
Tel: +604 827 6930
Fax: +604 827 6932

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Marudi Office)
129A, First Floor,
Jalan Tuanku Taha,
P.O.Box 216,
98058 Marudi, Baram, Sarawak,
Malaysia
Tel & Fax: +6085 758 973

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