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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
UN To Consider Mercury Treaty After US Drops Opposition |
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NAIROBI, KENYA, Feb. 7 -/E-Wire/--
At a United Nations Environment Program Governing Council meeting today, Environmental Ministers are expected to agree on taking immediate actions and consider further measures--including an international treaty--to address the significant adverse impacts of global mercury.
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The Ban Mercury Working Group (Ban Hg-Wg) expressed support for taking both immediate and long-term actions to curtail mercury pollution. "No single country can resolve the mercury problem on its own," said Michael Bender, MPP director and the BAN-HG Working Group representative attending the Nairobi meeting. "There are alternatives for mercury uses, but there is no alternative to global cooperation."
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Recently, there has been growing awareness and interest in the need to address the mercury issue both at home and internationally.
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"The exploration of creating an international treaty to address the global mercury problem was called for by the European Union in December," said Bender. "Also, last September at the UNEP global mercury meeting in Geneva, Latin American and Carribean countries called more pointedly for a treaty. In the US, the Environmental Council of the States,an organization comprised of top environmental state officials from all 50 states have called for a binding international treaty on mercury within 6 years."
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Mercury levels has increased 3-to-5 fold in the past century due to human activities and are reaching threshold levels that threaten human health and the environment, as well as the future viability of the global fishing industry. Since 1996, fish has surpassed beef and poultry as the most consumed protein source in the world, but is now threatened by mercury build-up in the global environment.
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Sources and uses of mercury include the burning of fossil fuels, mining operations, industrial uses and waste disposal.
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Ban Hg-Wg is a network of 28 public interest nongovernment organizations from around the world, formed to promote the following:
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--Use of mercury is phased out in both the South and the North and all new mining must cease; --Mercury releases from all sources are subject to continuing minimization, and ultimate elimination as feasible; Commodity transactions and global trade in mercury must be reduced and then eliminated; --Long term storage facilities must be created to assure environmentally sound storage of existing quantities of mercury; and --In the interim, the South must not become a dumping ground for mercury-based technologies, products and/or wastes.
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For more information:
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http://www.chem.unep.ch/mercury http://www.ban.org/Ban-Hg-Wg http://www.mercurypolicy.org
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