Wasting Away in the South Pacific.

A two-year survey of 13 Pacific Island countries has found stockpiles of hazardous chemicals and more than 50 contaminated sires throughout the South Pacific region. The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Samoa-based international environmental organization that carried out the survey, estimates the cost of cleaning up the sires at $5-10 million. A report of the survey, titled Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Pacific Island Countries, was released in August 2000.

SPREP environmental waste management coordinator Bruce Graham says that 200 sites were inspected during the survey. Surplus chemicals were found at 142 of these sites, and of those, contamination was suspected at 112. The chemicals found included pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), general industrial chemicals, medical wastes, laboratory chemicals, oil, bitumen, timber treatment chemicals, and fertilizers, any of which may cause adverse health effects in people and animals and may render a location unusable for other purposes such as farming or building. Graham says that urgent action is needed at sites where agricultural chemicals are improperly stored in Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, and Kiribati. Immediate work on these sites would probably cost about $60,000, Graham says.

The survey was undertaken by SPREP to study toxic waste in its member nations, many of which lack the financial resources to address these problems on their own. Some member nations, such as the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau, are former "trust territories" of the United States, held in trust following World War II until they could achieve independence. Since shedding that status in the mid-1970s, they no longer receive funding or support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since then, says Carl Goldstein, the EPA Region 9 program coordinator for American Samoa, the Pacific Island nations have fallen behind in monitoring and response to hazardous waste sites.

"As far as this kind of activity goes, the South Pacific nations have insufficient resources--funding and manpower--to address and correct these highly technical and costly problems," says Goldstein, adding that the SPREP report is "an important first step toward comprehensive hazardous waste management in the South Pacific."

The report recommends that some 131 tons of PCBs and 42 tons of pesticides be removed from the islands to sites where they can be disposed of safely. Agricultural pesticides pose some of the most urgent problems; the report describes one site in the Solomon Islands where children's fingerprints were found in improperly stored DDT. The report also identifies 11 sites where island groundwater has been contaminated by oil spills. This poses particular problems in the Pacific Islands, where fresh water sources are mainly limited to rainfall and groundwater.

While improved storage facilities may be sufficient to resolve problems at many of the sites with surplus agricultural chemicals, the question of how to deal with PCBs--particularly where to put them--may be somewhat trickier. Goldstein points out that the United States will not accept PCBs from foreign countries, including the former trust territories, and suggests that Europe or Australia may be more likely disposal sites.

The report has reminded many Pacific Island countries of the importance of ratifying the Basel Convention, which governs the shipment of hazardous waste between countries, and the Waigani Convention, which specifically controls hazardous waste movement within the Pacific Islands. Although many island nations have signed on to the Waigani Convention, they have been slow to ratify it largely due to reservations regarding its provisions for pollution prevention.

However, says Graham, ratification of these conventions would greatly ease the way for offshore disposal. He adds, "It also allows countries to tap into the extensive technical expertise and support available through the Basel Secretariat."

Although the costs of addressing these toxic sites may appear daunting to island nations, many of which have small or nonexistent environmental budgets, Graham appears optimistic about securing funding from outside national and international sources to pay for the work. "I expect to be able to announce a significant funding package early next year," he says.