Toxic waste dumping in the Global South as a form of environmental racism: Evidence from the Gulf of Guinea

ABSTRACT

Toxic waste is chemical compounds that, when ingested or inhaled, can cause physiological impairment and, in extreme cases, death. It is also known for its detrimental effect on the environment when disposed of in an unsafe manner. Yet, countries in the Gulf of Guinea continue to be targeted by Western waste-brokers notwithstanding the existence of laws prohibiting the transboundary disposal of such materials. There is also a rise in the export of electronic waste (e-waste) from developed countries to countries in the region, purportedly as reusable electronics, much of which ends up in landfills. The primitive recycling techniques of this e-waste undermines the health of the local populations and their environment due to inadequate care of the heavy metal and toxin content. Drawing on examples from Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Ghana, this paper argues that toxic waste dumping in the Gulf of Guinea amounts to environmental racism. The article makes recommendations relating to the challenges of toxic waste dumping in the Gulf of Guinea, including the need for countries to implement the provisions of the Basel and Bamako conventions in their entirety, recognise acts of environmental racism as violations of human rights, and for young people to rise to the occasion as ‘agents of change’.

KEYWORDS:

• Bamako Convention
• Basel Convention
• Africa
• environmental justice
• e-waste

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers of African Studies whose feedback have ⁠improved the manuscript. We also thank (the late) Anthony Davenport for proofreading the article. We have been privileged to interact with communities across the West and Central African region who continue to inspire us to contribute to environmental justice issues. We appreciate their insights and lessons that have challenged us to highlight the pervasiveness and impact of toxic waste dumping in the region.

Notes on contributors

Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood a lecturer in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews and a visiting fellow at the Centre for Strategic Research and Studies, National Defence College, Abuja, Nigeria. Her research investigates the extent to which unsustainable use of the marine environment and the resources therein precipitate conflict and insecurity in West and Central Africa.

Ibukun Jacob Adewumi is the director of programmes and partnership at the African Marine Environment Sustainability Initiative, Lagos, Nigeria, and the West Africa liaison officer for the World Ocean Council. He has over a decade of interdisciplinary research and professional experience on integrated ocean management, blue economy ocean governance, and climate change adaptation on a local, regional and global scale. Ibukun holds an Erasmus Mundus joint MSc in maritime spatial planning from the Universities of Venice, Seville, and the Azores, and is an associate member at the Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change, National University of Ireland in Galway. He is currently a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change/Nairobi Working Programme specialised expert group on the ocean.

Notes

1 Parts of the central arguments of this paper were presented by Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood at the First International Conference of the African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA), themed ‘African Studies in the 21st Century: Past, Present, and Future’, held in Ibadan, Nigeria in October 2015.