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By EILEEN NG, Agence France Presse

At a conference on controlling cross-border movement of hazardous wastes, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore pledged support for the so-called Basel Convention banning waste exports from OECD countries to non-OECD ones.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) comprises the world's largest industrialised nations.

The developing nations "for a long time suffered from the consequences of being used as dumping ground for toxic and hazardous waste from industrialised countries," Indonesian Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said.

He described the Basel Convention as a major victory for the developing world and a "landmark" decision towards sustainable development into the 21st century.

Some 100 countries are attending the talks on the convention, developed under the auspices of the United Nations after a series of notorious "toxic cargoes" from developed nations galvanised world outrage over the dumping of hazardous wastes in developing and eastern European countries.

It came into force in May 1992. The decision to ban waste exports was adopted in September 1995 but needed to be ratified by at least three quarter of the convention's 117 parties before it could be implemented.

So far, only Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Britain have ratified the ban, which called for the phasing out of such exports destined for recycling or recovery by the end of 1997 and a full ban thereafter.

Singapore's Environment Minister Yeo Cheow Tong told the five- day conference which started Monday that the ban was drafted after developing countries were found vulnerable to dumping of hazardous wastes by inconsiderate companies.

Yeo said that Singapore's busy ports had also exposed the island to illegal trafficking of toxic wastes and called for cooperation to eliminate such activities.

He said it was a daunting task for a busy port like Singapore to ensure effective surveillance of illegal movement of hazardous waste.

China's deputy environment minister Wang Yangzu voiced support for the ban and said he was concerned that some countries "were still deeply wavering" in their commitment. Wang said China had seen a rise in waste dumping cases in 1996 and had stepped up enforcement on the illegal movement of wastes.

"The Chinese government has taken strict measures to crack down on illegal trafficking of wastes," he said. "Most of the wastes have been returned and the offenders heavily prosecuted."

Malaysian Science, Technology and Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding warned of "attempts by countries to weaken the convention" from its original aim of controlling and eventually eliminating the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes. Law reiterated that Malaysia was against "the export of hazardous wastes to developing countries under the pretext of recycling" but was not opposed to the recycling of such wastes within the state's own border provided they were carried out according to sound environmental practice.

UNEP's executive director Klaus Topfer said that "a high shadow of illegal trafficking of hazardous wastes worldwide was going on" and the issue remained the main concern of the Basel Convention.

"It is unacceptable and unfair to risk the welfare of the people in developing countries. We have to make all the endeavour to integrate the Interpol and the non-governmental organisations to battle this scandalous situation," he added.

According to a 1990 study by UNEP, more than 400 million tonnes of hazardous waste is generated worldwide annually of which some 10 percent enters into international trade but Topfer said the figure had escalated tremendously following global industrialisation.