Question

What is the role of concerns on hazardous waste regarding the environment and international trade?

Answer 1

In many underdeveloped countries, the regulatory framework and technical infrastructure for appropriate handling of hazardous wastes are as yet in formative stages. These countries are being offered multi-million dollars contracts for accepting wastes from other industrialised developed countries where environmental regulations are more stringent and disposal costs are higher.

Moreover, developed countries give assurance to the recipient countries of the harmlessness of toxic wastes and dirty technologies. These situations may lead to environmental and public health catastrophes of unprecedented magnitude in underdeveloped countries. Combined with the increased pre-occupation with environmental issues that characterise public opinion in industrialised countries, these elements form in the wider international context the debate over controlling trans-boundary hazardous wastes.

Another area of controversy is liberalised trade. The controversy has been going on as to whether liberalised trade causes environmental degradation. It leads to the conclusion that ‘overall trade liberalisation is likely to produce negative externalities, but also some environmental gains.’ The former does not imply that free trade should be stopped. Rather, such cost-effective policies should be adopted that epitomize externalities. Environmental degradation from free trade should be reduced by strict domestic policy measures based on the ‘polluter pays principle’.

The other contentious issue with regard to trade between developed counties and underdeveloped countries is transfer of dirty technologies. The developed countries are shifting their dirty industries in the name of investments in underdeveloped countries.

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