For the last few years CFE Foundation's work has been focusing on the problem of sea-dumped chemical weapons - an important issue relevant to the environmental security of many nations.

The problem of the ecological threat posed by chemical weapons (CW) dumped in the seas after the Second World War deserves considerable international attention: the amount of these weapons is assessed at more than three times as much as the total chemical arsenals reported by the United States and Russia. Most of them were disposed of in the shallow depths of North European seas - areas of active fishing - in close proximity to densely populated coastlines, with no consideration of the long-term consequences. The highly toxic material have time and again showed up, for instance when retrieved occasionally in the fishing nets, attracting local media coverage only.

The  problem of the ecological  threat  posed by chemical weapons (CW) dumped  in the  seas  after the  Second   World   War  deserves  considerable international  attention:  the  amount  of  these weapons is assessed at more than three times as  much as the total chemical arsenals reported  by the  United States and Russia. Most of them were disposed of  in  the shallow depths of North  European seas  -  areas  of  active fishing  -   in  close proximity to densely populated coastlines, with no  consideration  of the long-term consequences. The  highly  toxic material have time  and  again showed up, for   instance   when   retrieved occasionally in the fishing  nets, attracting local media coverage only.

Nevertheless, this issue has not yet been given adequate and comprehensive scientific analysis, the sea-disposed munitions are  not covered  by either the  Chemical Weapons Convention  or other  arms  control  treaties.  In  fact,  the problem has been neglected for a long time on the international level. Only recently were official  data made  available  by  the  countries  which admitted conducting dumping operations.

There  were a number of reasons for  the  decades of delay in addressing this problem, during  which time the  containers and shells loaded with combat  CW were   deteriorating  in  the  sea  water.    The government bodies of both the states that carried out  the  dumping operations and those  bordering the dumping areas were reluctant to tackle   this sensitive  problem, especially during the  period of  East-West  tension.  With the  Cold  War  now over, the political obstacles to addressing  this problem have mostly been removed. However,  there remains  the   extreme  scientific and  technical complexity of the problem posed by the CW  dumps, which   requires   comprehensive   and   profound expertise.

CFE Foundation's experts started with publications in international press (Britain's The Sunday Times Magazine, America's The Wall Street Journal, Germany's Der Spiegel etc.,) to draw the public attention to this subject of primary importance.

In January  1995,  the  CFE  Foundation organized the first  international experts'  Conference in Kaliningrad, Moscow Region,  to  consider this problem. Conference was financed by the Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division of NATO.  The  conference  in  Kaliningrad  was  the  first attempt  to address this issue on a comprehensive scientific  basis.  CFE,  an  international  non-governmental  organisation conceived  to  address the  ecological problems caused by military activities  and  the environmental  perspectives of economic conversion, concentrated on  the problem of sea-dumped CW  and saw its mission  in drawing   due  attention to this previously neglected problem. The conference project started when  the Division of Scientific and Environmental  Affairs showed  interest  in the theme  of  our proposal for an  Advanced Research  Workshop in  1992,   well before  the subject of sea-dumped CW was  put  on the Europe’s official agenda in the framework of the Ad  Hoc Working Group established by the  Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission.

The  conference’s concept envisaged consideration of the various aspects of  the problem: chemical, biological,    technological.   The    conference demonstrated   the  availability,  in   different countries,  of  substantial  relevant  knowledge, experience,   technologies  and  other  resources that   can    be   applied   to   the  particular ecological   problem of sea-dumped  CW.  It  also showed  the lack of awareness  of  each   other’s achievements  and  capabilities,  and   confirmed the  need for  improved  information exchange  and co-ordination.  The conference, which  drew together experts  from   the  centres   of academic and applied research from Europe and the United  States,   approved  a  concrete   set  of recommendations  based on the  current  level  of scientific knowledge on the problem.

The Second CFE's Conference on the on the problem of sea-disposed chemical weapons, supported by Rockefeller Foundation, was held in April 1996 in Bellagio, Italy.  Leading environmental and chemical scientists from Europe,  Russia, and  the  United States established that  sea-dumped chemical weapons  pose a serious threat to aquatic environments and human populations in a number  of regions of the  world, and adopted consensus documents suggesting a program of follow-up activities.

CFE has  prepared the first book  on the problem of sea-disposed CW:  A.Kaffka (editor), Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons: Aspects, Problems and Solutions, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1996.
 
More information on the conferences, publications,  documentation can be found in the appropriate sections of this web site.