Iran is a signatory to the
Hong Kong Convention, which is aimed at ensuring safe dismantling and recycling
of ships that have lived out their operational lives.
The Department of
Environment is opposed to the highly-polluting practice of shipbreaking, but
might allow the establishment of a recycling center if certain conditions are
met, according to a senior DOE official.
Speaking to IRNA, Parvin
Farshchi, deputy for marine environment, said, “It is possible to issue a
permit for only one ship recycling center on the shores of the Sea of Oman if
environmental regulations are upheld.”
The official said the department
believes an area around the northeastern part of the sea (along the coast of
Sistan-Baluchestan Province) would be a good place to set up the center.
“We encourage recycling but
specific conditions must be met,” she said.
Some of those conditions
include conducting risk assessment and feasibility studies, including the
assessment of environmental and social impacts of a recycling center.
“There is absolutely no way
to allow such a project on the coasts of the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea,” she
added.
Farshchi acknowledged that
the industry is very lucrative, but warned that its potential impacts on the
environment are worse.
“Investors must guarantee
that recycling ships won’t cause pollution,” she said.
There are hundreds of sunken
ships in the Persian Gulf and about 170 boats in Iran’s Arvand River, which
might have forced DOE to take a step back and allow the establishment of a
recycling center, albeit under strict conditions.
Opposition
Since 1987
The department has opposed
the enterprise ever since it was first broached in 1987.
Elaborating on DOE’s
opposition to shipbreaking, Farshchi said there is every chance that parts
salvaged from old ships will pile up in shipbreaking yards, whereas a recycling
center is obliged to recycle.
Iran is a signatory to the
2009 Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound
Recycling of Ships, widely referred to as the Hong Kong Convention, which is
“aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of
their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risks to human health,
safety and to the environment,” according to the International Maritime
Organization.
Due to its severe
environmental impact, shipbreaking is tightly regulated in the developed world,
because of which the bulk of the process is done in the developing world where
stringent regulations are hardly enforced.
Although a lucrative
industry, shipbreaking is practiced in only a handful of countries: China,
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Turkey. In the developed world, Norway and
Britain practice ship recycling under strict environmental laws with modern
technology.
“I’ve visited shipbreaking
yards in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and witnessed severe soil and air
pollution in and around the yards,” Farshchi said.
Shipbreaking has become an
issue of global environmental and health concern in recent years. Oceangoing
vessels are not meant to be taken apart. They are designed to withstand extreme
forces in some of the planet’s most difficult and unfriendly environments, and
they are often constructed with toxic materials, such as asbestos and lead.
Many shipbreaking yards
operate under lax or no environmental laws, enabling large quantities of highly
toxic materials to escape into the general environment and causing serious
health problems among shipbreakers, the local population and wildlife.
Source: financial
tribune. 02 July 2017
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