Sixty-three governments approved a UN convention Friday that aims to make the business of scrapping the world''s freighters, luxury liners and oil tankers safer and greener by requiring higher standards at recycling yards mostly located in South Asia.
But critics led by a coalition of 107 environmental and rights groups complained the International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships doesn''t go far enough. They want governments to ban the practice of breaking down ships along beaches and require ship owners to remove all hazardous materials before sending them for recycling.
An estimated 1,000 ships are broken down each year, mostly in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and to a lesser degree in China and Turkey. Sending the ships to the developing world saves the industry money but exposes an army of poorly trained workers to deadly hazards. Dozens die each year in explosions and accidents while others are sickened later in life after coming in contact with asbestos and other substances.
The pact drafted by the International Maritime Organisation will go into force two years after 15 countries _ representing 40 percentage of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage _ formally ratify it.
The 63 countries including those with ship recycling industries agreed to limit the amounts of hazardous materials that ships are built with and require older ships to be broken down in yards that meet certain environmental standards. The convention also requires recycling facilities to institute measures that reduce explosions and other accidents and ensure that workers are properly trained and provided with safety equipment such as gloves, goggles and face masks.
``This significant international convention provides a single regulatory platform needed to address safety, health and environmental issues in the disposal of end-of-life ships,'''' said Eva Cheng, Hong Kong''s secretary for transport and housing. ``It will help protect the health of workers in recycling yards, reduce damage to the environment and be instrumental to the sustainable development of the shipping industry world-wide.''''
But the coalition of environmental groups, the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking, said the pact would ``perpetuate hazardous and polluting shipbreaking on the beaches of the world''s poorest countries, while obstructing transitions to safer and greener forms of ship recycling.''''
The convention ``won''t stop a single toxic ship from being broken on the beach of a developing country,'''' Ingvild Jenssen, the coalition''s director, said in a statement. ``The convention legitimises the infamous breaking yards of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.''