A Critical Examination Of Global Environmental Hazard Of E-waste And Its Threat To Human Security: A Case Study Of Agbogbloshie E-waste Dumpsite Ghana.

A Critical Examination Of Global Environmental Hazard Of E-waste And Its Threat To Human Security: A Case Study Of Agbogbloshie E-waste Dumpsite Ghana.

Chapter One

Preface

Background Of The Study

Technology has had an valuable impact on the fabric of mortal society. As electronic widgets and appliances continue to ease and ameliorate our living conditions, society has come reliant on them. According to a United Nations Environment Program( UNEP) 2015 report, the electronic assiduity is one of the largest and swift- growing diligence, while also producing the moste-waste of electronic widgets and appliances encyclopedically in the millions of tonnes per time.

Schwab( 2016) explains in his book The Fourth( 4th) Industrial Revolution how the smash in technology has presented a variety of openings to humanity. homes, health and weal institutions, education, commerce, and trade all use a variety of electronic products for a variety of purposes. The fashionability of these electronic products can be attributed to their ever- adding affordability, which has redounded from an increase in the number of buyers and druggies of electronic products. As technology has come more affordable, the rate of technological relief has inescapably increased. On the request, lower sizes, newer designs, and further stoner-friendly electronic products are available. The maturity of products are moreover upgraded with new features or come obsolete in the terrain, while inoperable and out- of- date products are discarded.

The International Solid Waste Association( ISWA), Vienna; the United Nations University( UNU), Tokyo; and the International Telecommunication Union( ITU), Geneva concertedly issued a report named “ The GlobalE-Waste Monitor 2017, ” which stated that the total quantum ofe-waste generated in 2016 was44.7 million metric tons. According to the report, the 2016 numbers represent an 8 percent increase( of3.3 million metric tons) over 2014. The nonstop increase ine-waste generation is disproportional to the quantum reclaimed, with only about 20 ofe-waste reclaimed through applicable channels. The concerted weight of widgets like mobile phones, TV sets, refrigerators, computers, and solar panels is original to

million completely loaded 18- wheel 40- ton exchanges If this figure is not intimidating enough, judges prognosticate thate-waste will increase by 17 to52.2 million metric tons by 2021. The general public has long been apprehensive of the troubles presented by abandoned widgets to people; nonetheless, there’s a implicit profitable value for factors in discarded electronics that may be repurposed( Perkins, Drisse, Nxele, & Sly, 2014).

Given the quantities of scrap created or placed on spots that must be sorted through, destroyed, and reclaimed in an applicable manner,e-waste recycling is capital demanding. Recycling is managed on a original scale, still, in dumpsites in underdeveloped nations similar as Guiyu and Agbobloshie in China and Ghana, independently, by people and families that live in close propinquity to the dumpsite. Their decision to detect near dumpsites is explained by the marketable exertion on the spots, which involves the mining of bobby wiring from electrical bias( Setiawan & Hapsari, 2018). The transnational community has offered guidelines one-waste operation to address difficulties and hazards associated with e-waste, particularly in poor nations. Countries most impacted by electronic waste jilting have been pushed to establish and apply legal regulations grounded on the 1989 Basel Convention, which governs the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. This transnational body implements the being agreement and policy document in charge ofe-waste recovery, recycling, and disposal.

Twelve African nations met in Mali in January 1991 to establish a pact proscribing the import of dangerous radioactive waste and derivations. This agreement supported for a ban on significances into Africa, as well as the control of transboundary movement and the operation of dangerous wastes, which was a vastly stronger position than the Basel Convention.

On a public position, Ghana ‘s congress legislated the Hazardous and Electronic Waste Control Management Bill, 2016 into law in July 2016. Act 917 empowers the government to regulate, manage, and dispose of dangerous electrical and electronic waste. This regulation is intended to condense the preliminarily mentioned two major transnational and indigenous covenants.

Electronic trash(E-waste) products are complex emulsions of polymers and chemicals, the maturity of which can have negative impacts on both mortal and natural surroundings, particularly in rising countries that have been linked as globale-waste dumpsites( Leung, Duzgoren- Aydin, Cheung, & Wong, 2008). indecorouse-waste recycling process running is connected with the emigration of chemicals that can be dangerous to mortal health. These health consequences may affect not just those directly sharing in thesee-waste operations, but also vulnerable populations hard. Agbogbloshie near Accra, Ghana, is home to the world’s largeste-waste dumpsite, which receives over 150,000 tonnes ofe-waste each time. Managinge-waste is a major problem in numerous nations, including Ghana. Because of the troubles associated with e-waste, it should be addressed front on.

Statement Of The Problem

The troubles thate-waste acts to the terrain have been a source of concern for the transnational community in recent decades, As a result, Japan, the United States( US), the European Union( EU), and other established industrialized countries tried to produce a legislative frame for electronic trash while creating electronic waste reclamation and recycling systems. nevertheless, several advanced nations demanded the necessary capability to handle the volume of electronic and electrical waste they produce( White, 2008). As a result, these nations export their Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment( WEEE) orE-waste to developing countries where security, health, and environmental restrictions are shy( Olowu, 2012).

In the twenty-first century, the globe would be insolvable to live without Electronic and Electrical Equipment( EEE). With this rising desire for electrical and electronic particulars, along with rapid-fire invention and shorter product lifetime,e-waste is a developing waste type. The increase in jilting has raised worries about the waste’s implicit impact on the terrain and mortal health( UNEP, 2015).

According to the GlobalE-waste Examiner( 2017), arising nations’ electronic trash affair has quadrupled in the former decade due to population expansion, urbanization, profitable growth, and life preferences. Waste from electronic factors may be divided into two ordersnon-biodegradable tackle and chemical composites that are dangerous to mortal health in the terrain. The rate at which global trash amounts are adding poses a major trouble to mortal and environmental survival( Setiawan & Hapsari, 2018).

The Agbogbloshiee-waste dumpsite in Ghana is the outgrowth of the world’s rising desire for new and sophisticated electronic outfit, which leads to the disposal of outdated technology. A considerable quantum of this electronic trash is transferred from the West, frequently immorally, to poor nations like Ghana. In light of this, a study of this kind is necessary to punctuate the extent to which the globale-waste problem is negatively affecting the Ghanaian ecosystem, as well as the workers and residers in and around the Agbogbloshiee-waste dumpsite, who are both perpetrators and victims of this moping problem.

Ideal Of The Study

The primary end of this exploration is to probe the global environmental hazard ofE-waste on mortal security. Specifically, the study will;

1. probe whether applicable Ghanaian authorities made any trouble in enforcing the crucial transnational convention one-waste, the Basel Convention and managing the growing imminence ofe-waste in the country.

2. To probe the current situation of thee-waste problem at the Agbogbloshie e- waste dumpsite.

3. To probe the effect global hazard ofe-waste has had on the people at Agbogbloshiee-waste dump point and its immediate environs.

Exploration Questions

The following questions guide this study;

1. Did applicable Ghanaian authorities made any trouble in enforcing the crucial transnational convention one-waste, the Basel Convention and managing the growing imminence ofe-waste in the country?

2. What’s the current situation of thee-waste problem at the Agbogbloshie e- waste dumpsite?

3. What effect has global hazard ofe-waste had on the people at Agbogbloshiee-waste dump point and its immediate environs?

Significance Of The Study

This study will be significant to the government as it’ll bring to the fore the issue of e- waste and its goods on mortal security. It’ll allow for the government to take the necessary way to look into the subject matter. It’ll also be salutary to other experimenters who want to take another perspective on the subject matter.

Compass Of The Study

This exploration will concentrate on the rising worldwide peril of electronic trash to scrap merchandisers and residers at Ghana’s largest dumpsite in Agbogbloshie. It also will claw into the enterprise enforced by the government to address this issue since 2016 until the present. Hence the enrolled repliers for this study will be attained from the residers in Agbogbloshie, Ghana.

Limitation Of The Study

This study was limited as a result of fiscal and time constraints faced by the experimenter.

Description Of Terms

1. E-wastee-waste is electronic products that are unwanted, not working, and nearing or at the end of their “ useful life ”.

2. Mortal Security mortal security is an arising paradigm for understanding global vulnerabilities whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of public security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be at the mortal rather than public position.