Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 11 • Number 6 • 21st February 2007

Trade Features Prominently At UNEP Governing Council

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At a recent meeting, the new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner and WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy — echoed by a number of environment ministers and other high-level participants — called for improving the synergies between the trade and environment regimes.

In addition to Lamy, several heads of UN agencies attended the 24th Session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC-24/GMEF), held from 5 to 9 February in Nairobi, Kenya. Through a series of panel discussions and interactive roundtables, participants discussed globalisation and the environment and UN reform. While participants continued to be divided on the need to establish a comprehensive new UN environment organisation, they generally agreed on the need for better coordination between trade and environment policy-making processes.

Speaking at the GC plenary in Nairobi, Lamy referred to sustainable development as central to the WTO and urged continued support from the environmental community in bringing the WTO Doha Round to a successful conclusion. He emphasised that the ongoing trade negotiations have the potential to facilitate a more efficient global allocation of resources. He stressed, however, that "for this efficient allocation to truly materialise, we all know that resources must be properly priced to start with - that externalities would have to be internalised. In today’s world, our policies are not fully synchronised."

Delegates to the meeting called upon UNEP to contribute to the dialogue on trade to help shape trade-related rules and institutions that affect the environment. Actions by UNEP should also include working with the WTO on the mutual supportiveness of trade and environment. Delegates further suggested that the international community strengthen international environmental governance to respond to globalisation processes and to ensure greater parity among international organisations promoting sustainable development (e.g., multilateral environmental agreements and the WTO).

For a full update on the UNEP Governing Council, see the latest issue of BRIDGES Trade Biores, 16 February 2007, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/07-02-16/story1.htm.

ICTSD reporting; "Environment Ministers Rise to the Challenge of Globalization and UN Reform," UNEP RELEASE, 9 February 2007; ENB Vol. 16 No. 60, 12 February 2007.

MINISTERS AGREE STEPS TO REGULATE MERCURY

Ministers at a recent high-level environmental gathering have agreed to take steps to limit global exposure to the toxic chemical mercury. As countries remain divided on whether to opt for voluntary commitments or legally-binding rules, they decided to focus on a voluntary programme for the time being, leaving open the possibility to start negotiations on a treaty in two years’ time.

The mercury issue has been divisive at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Governing Council in the past (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 4 March 2005), and those involved in the process said that the decision to scale up activity in this area was significant.

"The mercury decision… underlines a new determination by environment ministers to rise to the challenges of our time," commented UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. The Zero Mercury Working Group, however, said that the current approach did not go far enough and stressed the need for a legally-binding instrument.

At the UNEP Governing Council, the EU, the African Group, Norway and Switzerland pushed for negotiations on a treaty (which would also cover trade aspects). The US, Australia, Canada, Japan, China and India preferred to extend voluntary partnerships. Under the two-track approach agreed, a new ad hoc open-ended working group of government and stakeholder representatives will be established "to review and assess options for enhanced voluntary measures and new or existing international legal instruments."

Currently, the EU is the main exporter of mercury, with India and China being the main importers. The EU has taken steps to ban mercury exports by 2011 (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 3 November 2006).

Exposure to high levels of mercury in any form — metallic, inorganic or organic — can permanently damage the brain, kidneys, and developing foetuses. Mercury is released from coal-fired power stations, waste incinerators and as a by-product of artisanal mining of gold and silver.

"New UN-backed voluntary programme seeks to curb toxic mercury pollution," UN NEWS CENTRE, 14 February 2007; "Governments Agree Action on Mercury, but no Treaty," REUTERS, 12 February 2007; ENB Vol. 16 No. 60, 12 February 2007.