Pollution in the Pacific

• Economic effects
• Social effects
• What can be done?
• Environmental agreements
• Improving Ships' Waste Management in Pacific Islands Ports
• World War II Pacific wrecks

Pacific countries continue to list the prevention of pollution as the major environmental concern within their countries. Pollution is also one of the major threats to sustainable development in the Pacific islands region. The increase in the sources and extent of pollution are threatening the Pacific islands’ efforts to maintain healthy societies, to stimulate development and new investment and a sustainable future for its people. The main types of pollution within the region are shipping-related pollution, hazardous chemicals and hazardous wastes and solid waste management and disposal. The region’s coastal and marine resources are threatened by introduced marine species, ship wrecks, marine accidents and spills, ships’ waste and antifouling paints on vessels. Increasing quantities of solid waste, poor control of chemicals imported into the region and the lack of capacity to manage pollutants are primary problems.

The limited land area of many of the islands combined with a lack of appropriate technology for waste recycling has resulted in a proliferation of plastics, paper, glass, metal and even drums of hazardous chemicals. Much of this rubbish slowly breaks down and leaches into the soil and into drinking water. What does not break down takes up space. The foul-smelling organic wastes attract disease-carrying pests such as mosquitoes, rats and flies. Piles of household rubbish may be develop on beaches and in mangrove swamps.

Tourism, a key money-earner for some Pacific island countries, is also starting to be affected by the spread of litter. The region did have a competitive advantage over other tourist destinations because of the reputed beauty of its lagoons and beaches. But that advantage is shrinking under the weight of solid waste piling up around shorelines and waterways alike.

Economic effects

Environmental pollution can have direct and indirect linkages to poverty. Poor people are the most vulnerable to losses of basic food supplies for subsistence or income earning due to contamination of land or marine resources. They are also vulnerable to harmful pollutants and the associated health problems.

Discharges of pollutants into the environment usually represents wasted resources. For example, smoky vehicle exhausts mean that fuel is being wasted through inefficient combustion. Some of the materials thrown away as rubbish represent lost resources when they could be used in other ways, for example using green waste as compost. The recovery of some of these materials can have direct economic benefits, like collecting aluminium cans to resell and using waste oil as a fuel substitute.

Pollution can reduce land value and productivity due to contamination, direct effects on fish and other marine resources. Export markets are also potentially at risk as many developed countries continue to tighten their monitoring and control of contaminated foods.

Effective pollution prevention brings many benefits. In the manufacturing and energy sectors this can include reductions in raw material costs (including fuel) and increased processing and operating efficiencies. Reducing packaging will reduce the cost of packaged goods. The marketing advantages of "pollution-free" products are now being widely recognised, especially in the tourism sector and for organic agricultural produce. And waste recovery and recycling operations represent potential business opportunities for both the public and private sectors.

Social effects

There are many social aspects to environmental pollution. At a very basic level, poorer neighbourhoods are often the "preferred" locations for polluting industries and for rubbish dumps. The residents of these neighbourhoods are most at risk from the pollutants, due to their generally poorer health status compared to other groups.

Women and children are more at risk than men from many pollutants. For example, most organic chemicals accumulate in body fats and the accumulation rates tend to be higher for women than for men because of their generally higher fat levels. Those same pollutants can be readily transferred from mothers to the unborn child or via breast milk to babies. Infants and young children are especially vulnerable to the effects of pollutants such as mercury and lead, which can affect on both mental and physical development.

What can be done?

Pollution prevention is something that needs to be addressed mainly at national and local levels, although there are also some regional and global aspects. At a national level, there are only a very few Pacific countries and territories with specific environment acts and associated regulations. And there are even fewer with laws and regulations that deal with specific aspects of pollution, such as waste management. Most authority in this and other related areas comes from outdated and fairly generic legislation, such as the Health Act. More progress has been made in developing national policies and strategies to address issues such as waste management. However, much work remains to be done to turn these into active programmes that can achieve real on-the-ground solutions. A related issue is often the lack of any clear and unified approach within the government systems, with responsibilities being spread across a number of agencies.

Environmental agreements

There are a number of multilateral environmental agreements relevant to the the Pacific Islands region. The most relevant are listed below, with links.
Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region and Related Protocols, 1986 "SPREP Convention"
Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Waste and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Waste Within the South Pacific Region, 1995. "Waigani Convention"
Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972. "London Convention"
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, 1989. "Basel Convention"
International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as amended by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto. "MARPOL Convention"
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, 1998. "Rotterdam Convention" Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, 2001 "Stockholm Convention"

Improving Ships' Waste Management in Pacific Islands Ports

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