Global health. The current scenario and future perspectives

83 1980 and 2005, the waste produced per person each year among its member countries increased by 35%, and reports that “the generation of municipal waste is increasing at the same rate as GDP in member countries.”. In total, waste generation in OECD countries in 2016 amounted to 570 million tons of garbage per year, accounting for 44% of global generation. At the same time, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development declared that the amount of waste generated per person is approximately 1.3 kilograms per day, and by 2025, this amount is expected to exceed 1.5 kilograms per day. International trade exacerbated this problem in the 1980s. Some environmentally stricter industrialized countries began sending hazardous waste to developing countries to avoid the high cost of disposing of it domestically. Chile was not exempt from these practices. In 1985, over 20,000 tons of toxic waste of Swedish origin were illegally dumped in the city of Arica, and the serious health effects on people and the terrestrial ecosystem are still reported to this day. More than 30 years have passed since this unfortunate event and still no final ruling or solution to this problem has been pronounced. A group of UN experts in June 2021 urged the governments of Chile and Sweden to seek justice and remove the toxic waste dumped in that city, stating that “urgent measures must be taken to safely return the hazardous waste to Sweden for proper disposal.”. As similar unfair practices were repeated in different countries, the Basel Convention (BC) on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was drafted in 1989 and adopted in response to strong public protests in the 1980s after the discovery of toxic waste dumps in developing countries from abroad. The provisions of the Convention revolve around reducing the generation of hazardous waste and promoting rational environmental management, restricting transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and implementing a regulatory system for permissible movements of hazardous wastes. The BC requires annual reports from each party, provides legal and technical advice and promotes financial assistance to developing countries. The BC entered into force in 1992 and currently it counts 170 parties (including Chile). However, the United States and Haiti have signed but not ratified it. Similarly, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) came into effect in 2004. The Convention requires parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the production of POPs and establishes strict controls on the use, import, export and release of POPs into the environment. These toxic substances, mainly industrial chemical by- products and pesticides, are highly harmful, spread easily and become more concentrated and therefore more dangerous as they move from one