Two types of tax cannot be evaded: income tax and environmental tax. A common saying in western countries assures that “Nothing is certain but death and taxes”. Accordingly, modern countries must collect taxes effectively so that they can provide the required services to their citizens. Tax liabilities owed to the State cannot be escaped, and will become an inherited responsibility.
If the responsibility for postponing payment of state dues rests with individuals and companies, the responsibility for postponing addressing environmental problems lies with governments. Yet it is still the citizens who will pay the price for that delay. Fixing postponed environmental problems is also more complex, since the effects of the destruction and pollution of nature may be permanent, and cannot be solved by loans and grants from international banks and funds.
In Arab countries, many environmental problems are postponed, either because of the lack of vision, planning, experience, adequate funding, or the absence of political will, or all of these factors combined. If governments can postpone some problems by “escaping forward” and inventing new goals whenever they fail to achieve previously set ones, they cannot hide indefinitely and eliminate the existence of problems. Unfortunately, environmental problems do not die over time, but become worse.
While the examples are many across the Arab world, we are addressing the subject here based on the complications arising from of the waste and sewage problems in Lebanon, which have been postponed for decades. After a quarter of a century of talking about a national waste management plan, the country's waste is still being dealt with using contingency plans that change with each new government and minister. Sewage treatment and waste water have been floundering in conflicting projects with no tangible results, despite there being a plan to tackle them. It’s as if the officials are getting tired from just running in place, like being on a treadmill.
The last chapter of the ongoing saga took a surrealistic turn, when an odor expert was brought in from France, to identify the source of the unpleasant smells pervading Beirut and its suburbs, and to propose solutions. The odor expert concluded that the smells were generating from the open waste dumps, from a factory for the fertilization of organic waste that does not meet standards, and from sewage and waste water, which are disposed of without treatment into the waterways leading all the way to the sea.
Unsurprisingly, people found nothing new in this "discovery". Everyone knows that open waste dumps and untreated sewage are a source of unpleasant odors. The expert from France, and after much effort, brought nothing new to the table, except proposing to spray chemicals that reduce the odors by dismantling the components responsible for the bad smell. A suggestion similar to spraying perfume on dirty baby diapers, instead of changing the diapers.
The minister is in an unenviable position: he inherited contingency plans and crises postponed for a quarter of a century. People are demanding a quick solution to the smells that are invading their bedrooms, and that have taken over Beirut airport, becoming the first thing that greets visitors and tourists upon arrival. But neglect compounded over a quarter of a century cannot be solved with a magic wand. Also, people are not willing to accept the argument that the former ministries are the ones to blame, because governance is a matter of continuity. Yet the interesting thing is, a new waste management plan emerges with every new cabinet. After a grace period for consideration and approval, months and years of new contingency plans go by, and the same cycle begins again when a new cabinet takes office.
Unlike waste, an integrated plan for sewage and waste water has been available for a quarter of a century, including collection networks at the source and treatment plants. However, whereas the networks were created, most of the treatment plants were not built, and the few that were are not working. Thus, dirty water is collected and discharged into valleys, rivers and the sea without treatment, leaving most of the beaches polluted and permeated with unpleasant odors. So who is to be held responsible for delaying the implementation of a ready and integrated plan, the financing of which was available?
Even if the "odor expert" succeeds in reducing the smell, his chemicals will not be able to absorb their toxic components already in the air. It may be better for people to inhale the bad smell in order to try to avoid it, instead of the toxins staying hidden in the air, and being infused along with the chemicals, into the respiratory system.
Those proposing a quick solution to eliminate the waste and sewage nuisance by using chemicals to get rid of the odors, are similar to those who, years ago, proposed exporting Lebanon's waste to other countries, in what turned into a global scandal. Has anyone been held accountable for failing to implement and operate the waste water treatment plants or failing to meet the waste management promises? Were those who were behind the illegal waste exporting scandal prosecuted?
Solutions exist, if a political will exists. The first step is to withdraw specialized issues from the hands of amateurs, opportunists and warlords, and putting them in the hands of professionals.
Najib Saab is secretary-general of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development and editor-in-chief of Environment and Development magazine (www.afedmag.com).