Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 3 • 16th February 2007

Dutch Company to Pay for Toxics Clean-Up in Abidjan

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Dutch trading company Trafigura recently offered the government of Cote d’Ivoire US$198 million to help clean up toxic waste released in the capital Abidjan in August 2006. In return, the Ivorian government promised not to prosecute the company and released company officials it had arrested in relation to event.

During the night of 19 August, ca 500 cubic metres of wastes from ‘Probo Koala’ — a Panamanian-registered vessel contracted by Trafigura Beheer BV — were released at several sites, including near water sources. Large numbers of residents were soon seeking medical help for intestinal and respiratory troubles, vomiting and nose bleeds (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 8 September 2006, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/06-09-08/story2.htm)

The incident triggered outraged reactions in Cote d’Ivoire, with the government resigning, and highlighted gaps and loopholes within the international regulatory framework on waste. Investigations to clarify the sequence of events that led to the waste spills, as well as the applicable rules and related responsibilities, are still controversial and ongoing.

When the deal was announced on 13 February, a Trafigura spokesperson stressed that the company was not paying damages and that it was not taking responsibility for the events. According to the company, the wastes constituted routine oil slops — the disposal of which is covered by International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (Marpol) — and were handed over to a registered Ivorian operator.

Others have, however, argued that the wastes were toxic and as such covered by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, which requires the prior informed consent of developing country recipients.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, cautioned that there was “a whole unregulated and often illegal trade in toxic, hazardous waste” that reached developing countries with weak oversight systems in place. “We need to work on the broader environmental legislative framework globally so that these issues do not arise again,” he said.

Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network added that “It’s time the Basel Convention Parties once and for all agree to an interpretation that puts this much needed ban into the force of international law,” referring to the so called Ban Amendment. The amendment, which has been negotiated but not signed onto by a sufficient number of countries to enter into force, would prohibit the movement of any hazardous wastes from the EU and OECD countries to all other parties.

Environmental groups further questioned the timing of the Trafigura deal, which closely preceded the release of a criminal investigation into the case. Jasper Teulings of Greenpeace said “One cannot do justice without knowing the facts in their entirety. At this stage, it would have been more appropriate to secure a provisional settlement with an advance payment, rather than one that closes the books definitively, especially when the full extent of liabilities have not yet been determined.”

“Ivory Coast toxic clean-up offer,” BBC NEWS, 13 February 2007; “World Needs Tougher Toxic Trade Rules - UN,” REUTERS, 15 February 2007; “Ivory Coast Toxic Dumping Case Settled for US$198 Million,” ENS, 15 February 2007.