International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) and Hong Kong Convention

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International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL)

• The MARPOL Convention was adopted on 2 November 1973 at IMO. 
• The Convention includes regulations aimed at preventing and minimizing pollution from ships - both accidental pollution and that from routine operations - and currently includes six technical Annexes.
• The MARPOL Convention has six annexes (I to VI) and it deals with prevention of Pollution from ships by Oil, Noxious liquid substances, Dangerous goods in packaged form, Sewage, Garbage and Air pollution from ships respectively.

India and MARPOL

• India has signed the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
• India has ratified all of its annexes (Annexes I to VI).

Hong Kong Convention

• It is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risk to human health and safety or to the environment.
• India, one of the world’s five major ship recycling nations, also acceded to the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Hong Kong Convention.
• The Hong Kong Convention was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference held in Hong Kong, China, in May 2009 and was developed with input from IMO Member States and non governmental organizations, and in co-operation with the International Labour Organization and the Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. 
• It intends to address all the issues around ship recycling, including the fact that ships sold for scrapping may contain environmentally hazardous substances such as asbestos, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, ozone depleting substances and others.
• It will address concerns about working and environmental conditions in many of the world's ship recycling facilities