Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 21 • 30th November 2007

Meeting Seeks Global Action on Mercury

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A meeting sponsored by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) has taken the first steps to develop a global plan to address mercury pollution. While many developed countries have diminished their usage of the heavy metal, usage in developing countries has increased, in part due to the rising price of gold.

Convening in Bangkok from 12-16 November, the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Mercury to Review and Assess Measures to Address the Global Issue of Mercury hoped to lay the groundwork for “a comprehensive and decisive response to the global challenge of mercury.” While governments disagreed on the need for a legally-binding treaty, they took decisions to analyse issues such as the costs of both legally-binding and voluntary measures, sustainable technology transfer and support, and substitutes for major processes and products containing mercury.

With the price of gold on the rise, artisanal mining practices, which use mercury to extract the precious metal, have increased. UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook has also reported that the projected increase of combustible fuels, such as coal, will continue to release mercury into the atmosphere. Coal-burning and waste incineration accounts for 70 percent of total quantified emissions of mercury. Additionally, scientists are considering a theory, which claims that rising global temperatures could cause dormant underwater deposits to reactivate and emit more of the harmful metal into the oceans, thus contaminating marine food resources.

The EU, which is the world’s top mercury exporter, has taken steps to ban exports by 2011 (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 3 November 2006, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/06-11-03/inbrief.htm#2).

The February 2008 UNEP Global Ministerial Environment Forum will consider the outcome of the Bangkok meeting. A follow-up meeting is scheduled for October 2008 in Nairobi.

Additional resources

For a summary of the meeting, see IISD’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin at http://www.iisd.ca/vol16/enb1662e.html

“UNEP Wants Global Action on Mercury Threat,” PLANET ARK, 13 November 2007; “Global Agreement on Mercury Pollution In the Works,” ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE, 14 November 2007; “The first meeting of the ad hoc open-ended working group to review and assess measures to address the global issue of mercury,” EARTH BULLETIN, 12-16 November; “UNEP urges global action to curb mercury use,” PANAPRESS, 17 November 2007; “UN examines mercury pollution,” EDIE NEWSROOM, 20 November 2007.