London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution

London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (LC) was adopted in 1972 and has been updated several times since. The agreement regulates the dumping of wastes and other matter at sea, including radioactive waste and plastics. LC has helped to significantly reduce the amount of waste dumped at sea and has contributed to the protection of marine biodiversity.

Background

The once common practice of dumping industrial, chemical and even radioactive waste directly into the oceans reached crisis levels by the 1960s. For decades, companies and municipalities disposed of difficult waste, from acidic sludges to asbestos, in the cheapest ways possible – often by loading it onto barges to be dumped miles offshore. Toxic blooms and oil-soaked beaches became commonplace while little was known of ecological threats lurking deeper in oceans.

With marine waste dumping representing one of the most visible threats, the United Nations saw negotiations open through 1972 towards formalizing an international control agreement.

Restricting the Worst Offenders

In force since 1975, the London Convention has been ratified by nearly all maritime nations. It outright banned dumping the most hazardous wastes like organohalogen compounds while requiring permits for everything else based on waste type and characteristics. However, upon review in the 1990s, dumping levels for permitted wastes remained extremely high. In response, London Protocol was developed in 1996 as a forward-looking upgrade. It flipped the Convention’s approach – now prohibiting all waste dumping except for an approved substances list verifiably posing negligible threats. Today, London Convention and London Protocol stand as essential pillars protecting our ocean health against ongoing waste management threats on land and sea globally.