Mediterranean Sea Under Siege by Military and Industrial Abuse

Mediterranean Sea Under Siege by Military and Industrial Abuse

REGION:
Countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea include Malta, Italy, Cyprus, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and former Yugoslavia. The Maltese Islands lie in the center of the Mediterranean Sea and support some 360,000 native inhabitants and 600,000 visitors a year.

CASE STUDY PREPARED BY:

The Association of Women of the Mediterranean Region (AWMR), founded in 1992, developed from Malta's Women for Peace and Equality network of women who shared a concern for the cumulative and chronic contamination of the Mediterranean Sea. Committed to regional and world peace and sustainable development, AWMR's aim is to formulate and initiate common action to achieve a Mediterranean region free of pollution; to halt wanton ecological destruction; and to safeguard not only our sea, but also our air, water and soil. The Association believes in the fundamental right of all peoples, irrespective of gender, race, creed or class, to fresh water and clean seas.

Association of Women of the Mediterranean Region

Contact:
Ninetta Pourou-Kazantzis Box 320, Limassol 3603, CyprusTel: (357-5) 372-497; Fax: (357-5) 368-457 Email: npourou@anet.com.cy

Abstract

Oil spills, military exercises and toxic trade increasingly threaten the Mediterranean Sea. The growing degradation of the marine environment poses threats to the region's economy as well as to the health of people in the region. Women activists from all countries bordering the Mediterranean have joined together to work on strategies to educate and mobilize international action in response to the worsening problem.

Cause of the Environmental Crisis

The World Health Organization estimated in 1992 that one-third of the children swimming in the Mediterranean Sea would subsequently fall ill within two weeks. What used to be called flotsam and jetsam is now large-scale dumping of toxic chemicals. The oil tankers plying the Mediterranean spill or leak an amount of oil 17 times the size of the Exxon Valdez catastrophe every year, according to a 1992 report in 'The Economist.' They do so with complete immunity.

In addition, constant military exercises and the increasing number of hostilities in the Mediterranean area lead to residues of gasoline, solvents, weapons, and munitions which find their way into the sea. Worse, where the U.S. sixth fleet houses nuclear-powered submarines at ports in Sardinia and Crete, there has been so much radioactive waste that the sea is considered dead in that area. According to the Attorney General of Reggio, Guido Neri, the Neapolitan Mafia or "Ndrangheta" is responsible for the mysterious sinking of 25 ships, each full of radioactive waste, around the coast of Italy between 1992 and 1993. One ringleader, Georgio Comerio, is not in jail for dumping 5,000 tons of lethal waste in our seas but instead "enjoys the support of banks, institutions, and influential people in business and politics," according to Neri. This waste will have toxic and carcinogenic effects on millions of people. A warning sign is the rise in leukemia rates among children and adult inhabitants of nearby fishing ports.

The recent history of violence in the Mediterranean, especially the Israeli-Arab wars, the 1974 Turkish occupation of one third of the island of Cyprus, the war in former Yugoslavia and continued violence in Algeria have all taken a serious toll on the physical and psychological health of the Mediterranean people. Wars and war games not only destroy the environment with toxic and radioactive contamination and increase the incidence of violent behavior in society, they also increase the scarcity of essential resources such as clean drinking water, safe and hygienic living conditions and nutritious food.

Mediterranean countries officially engage in toxic trade. The Italian government shipped some 16,000 barrels containing over 24,000 tons of hazardous waste from Italy to Beirut between 1987 and 1988. "The barrels of solid waste with chlorinated substances and toxic heavy metals are ecological time bombs in Lebanon's soil and waters," according to GFouad Hamdan of Greenpeace Mediterranean.

The dumping of toxic wastes in the Mediterranean Sea is in direct violation of the Barcelona Convention signed by all Mediterranean States in 1975. But oil spilled daily by multinational oil companies and military pollution, are not covered by the terms of this regional pact. The UN must address these abuses.

The complete lack of education about the hazards of these international and local practices is shocking. In fact, many Mediterranean farmers are officially encouraged to use dangerous pesticides and many local governments allow untreated sewage and industrial effluence to flow straight into coastal waters.

Impact of the Environmental Crisis

According to a 1995 AWMR report, in just three countries of the Southern Mediterranean - Algeria, Morocco and Egypt - over 39 million people have no basic sanitation and, as a result, 550,000 children died before the age of five in 1990 alone. The lack of good nutrition, clean water and sanitary facilities means maternal mortality rates are 200 to 300 per 100,000 live births in the South compared to an average of 10 per 100,000 in the Northern Mediterranean. Resources have been diverted to military expansion instead of sustainable development, and fighting poverty and unsanitary conditions. This has encouraged the reemergence of tuberculosis and other acute infectious respiratory diseases in Algeria and Bosnia in the 1990s. In Bosnia, cancers of the stomach and colon have also increased among people of all ages.

The French nuclear tests in the Sahara began with an above ground explosion at Reggane on February 16, 1960 and continued until the test site was moved to French Polynesia in 1996. Radioactive clouds from the Algerian Sahara tests traveled over Libya and around the Mediterranean. The negative effects on health and development in downwind Mediterranean countries are suggested by the epidemic rise in cancer rates in subsequent decades. "Nothing is known of the extinct Tuareg tribes that once roamed the region. Their camels and cattle died soon after the tests. No survey has been done of the surviving workers at the sites. Testimonies gathered in 1992 speak of sterile women, cancers, of whole tribes having disappeared, of dying camels and other animals," according to Solange Fernex of AWMR.

The Mediterranean island of Cyprus has suffered a phenomenal increase of over 1000% in the incidence of cancers between 1960 and 1990 (3 new cases per 10,000 people in 1960 compared to 2000 new cases of cancer diagnosed in 1990). The Maltese Islands, that lie northeast of Algeria, are affected by the sirocco wind from the Sahara desert. The total number of cancer deaths per 1000 of the population rose by over 73% in the 1960-1993 period. Female breast cancer mortality rates increased by 150% in just two decades. By the end of the 1980s Malta had the highest female breast cancer mortality rate in the world (California Journal for Clinicians, 1989). A phenomenal increase in skin cancer deaths also occurred in the 1960s in Malta (Maltese Society 1994:195). Today, one in four deaths in Malta are due to cancer.

The Mediterranean Sea is so contaminated that it is hard to find a bay which is clean enough to swim in. Apart from ear and throat infections suffered by swimmers, there are increasing numbers of people with immune system disorders, chronic fatigue, diarrhea, hearing loss, and increased susceptibility to every passing infection. Meanwhile, the incidence of deadly cancers has been rising in the region.

The toll is not limited to the people who swim in the Mediterranean Sea. Prevalence of health problems has affected income from tourism in many places. The variety, quantity, and quality of fish, which is a staple for many households and a source of income for others, have diminished, often with disastrous multiplier effects. Marsaxlokk used to be the most prosperous fishing port in Malta, now it struggles with depleted fishing reserves and pollution from a new oil-fired power station.

The full negative impact of sea pollution on drinking water, salt and fish from the Mediterranean Sea has yet to be measured. The cumulative toxic and radioactive wastes are entering the food chain to the detriment of all, especially the young, elderly, and those already weakened by sickness.

Response to the Environmental Crisis

Women of the Mediterranean region share a vital concern about the health and welfare of their families. They are concerned about commercial and state practices that harm their livelihoods and contaminate their water. Apart from joining the occasional demonstration, many women feel powerless to prevent what they term "regress" or maldevelopment. Local governments tend to be slow, bureaucratic and ineffective. Industry is notoriously negligent if not criminal in its hazardous waste practices especially where environmental legislation is weak or poorly implemented. The United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environmental Programme Mediterranean Action Plan based in Greece have not made any measurable impact in addressing this ecological disaster.

"I have come here to regain my childhood," said Mona Selmy of Egypt at the founding conference of AWMR. She had grown up on the shores of the Mediterranean near Alexandria and has seen a healthy sea become polluted and sick. We have all similarly lost our ancient maritime heritage, and many have lost their health. Association members, through educational and activist work on these issues, have become powerful forces for progressive change in many Mediterranean countries such as Malta, Italy, Cyprus, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and the countries of former Yugoslavia.

At every local meeting and regional conference of the Association, the devastating effects of the military/ industry, wars, and embargoes on the environment, natural resources, and health have been exposed. The primary aims of the organization are "to work toward the peaceful resolution of conflicts and to demilitarize and denuclearize the Mediterranean Region while fostering the health and wellbeing of the most vulnerable among us and ending all forms of discrimination and poverty." The Association's newsletters, books, conferences, solidarity actions and international interventions have served to educate on the issues of industrial and governmental malpractices and the fundamental right to clean seas and fresh water. The prosperity and cleanliness of the Mediterranean Sea, on which the personal and economic health of so many depends, are the determinants and the gauge of our movement's success.

Representatives of the association participated in the International Conference on Health at Miami in 1991 and the UN Conference on Human Settlements at Istanbul in 1996. They have held annual regional conferences for women activists and writers, inviting international experts to speak on such issues as community health, environmental contamination, and military-industrial practices. The association is educating local communities on the illnesses caused by toxic exposures and encouraging community health studies.

Recommendations for Action

At the 1995 AWMR conference on Health in the Mediterranean participants voted for a pro-active position on alternative energy. Women from 17 countries, approved the following resolution, addressed to the November 1995 Mediterranean and Sustainable Development conference:
Considering the steps taken by states in favor of sustainable development in Rio in 1992; Considering the conclusions of the Climate Summit in Berlin, in Spring 1995; Considering the Chernobyl disaster, and the damage done to health and the environment; Considering the constant risk of similar accidents; and considering the unsolved problem of nuclear waste; We request that the states participating in the Barcelona conference prepare to:
Launch a multi-media information campaign on the conservation of energy, economy, and renewable sources of energy which would enable the replacement of fossil fuel and nuclear energy sources;
Launch effective and courageous policies of energy conversion to utilize renewable energy, solar panels, photo-voltaic energy, wind, biomass, etc., and begin equipping buildings and public installations;
Subsidize investments of private installations which conserve energy and utilize renewable energy sources;
Impose a tariff on electricity distributors that correctly reflects the cost of production, favoring decentralized and renewable sources of energy, in a way that will stimulate public and private investments in this area;
Present the results of these political measures in the field of energy conservation and utilization to the international community.
Additional recommendations include the need for all governments with military presence in the region to reduce military expenditures and interventions and prevent the deleterious effects on natural resources such as water and health.
The value of women's activism and importance of women's concerns have yet to be recognized by many official bodies. Representatives from women's NGOs should be invited to participate in all relevant forums and their recommendations must be seriously considered and implemented.

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/mgroups/wedo.htm