ETHICAL EVALUATION OF E-WASTE CRISIS IN AFRICA

Abstract

This study contends that the proliferation in the generation, transmission and disposal of electronic-waste (e-waste) in Africa is a matter of serious concern. This circumstance raises interdisciplinary challenges of environmental sustainability. Yet, the dumping of used electronic and electrical products into Africa from the Global North has raised fundamental ethical question of justice. However, the study confirms that the basis of all environmental justice variations is the consideration of fairness, equity and justice in the environmental processes that resolve environmental problems. Consequently, this study investigates how to mitigate the importation of e-waste through government interventions and effective information mechanism and enforcement of the laws regulating trade on e-waste to ensure a healthy biotic community. By using the analytic method, this research provides a robust analysis of the dominant ideologies underlying international trade in e-waste. This study examines conventions that are designed to regulate the global and regional transactions in e-waste and argues that treaties such as the Basel and Bamako Conventions are fundamental to the quest for environmental justice in Africa. The theoretical framework underpinning this research is “justice as fairness†which gives primacy to equity and the need to protect the least advantaged in the society. This research confirms that ecological considerations must trump economic motives behind e-waste transfers to developing countries of Africa and the global community. Giving consideration to the ecological harm occasioned by the dumping of e-waste is a sine qua non for achieving environmental justice in Africa. Rawls’ theory of justice is a potent and serviceable philosophical instrument that can be used for ethical evaluation of e-waste crisis in Africa. The research contributes to knowledge by a rigorous application of Rawlsian thought on justice to the problem of e-waste management in ways that advance the realisation of environmental justice without jeopardising the value of sharing technological products, especially used electronic gadgets from the Global North.