Environment Ministers have Agreed to Negotiate Mercury Treaty

Six thousand tonnes of mercury enter the environment every year, posing a threat to human and animal health. Environment ministers meeting in Kenya have agreed to negotiate a treaty to reduce the supply and use of mercury worldwide.

The ministers from 140 countries, attending UNEP's Governing Council meeting in Nairobi Feb 16-20, reached consensus to begin negotiating a legally-binding instrument to control mercury pollution next year, leading to a treaty for signature in 2013.

Governments also agreed to increase the budget of UNEP, support renewable energy and energy efficiency, and underlined the importance of investment in a "green economy" as part of worldwide economic recovery.

Mercury is found in thermometers and household products, and is used in plastic production and mining. UNEP says of the around 6,000 tonnes of mercury entering the environment annually, some 2000 tonnes comes from power plants and coal burned in homes. The dense and highly toxic metal stays in the environment once released, travelling across the globe on air and sea currents.

"This decision to develop a mercury treaty is the first step in addressing the global mercury crisis. Levels of mercury have increased two- to three-fold in the last 200 years, to the point where large fish such as tuna, swordfish, shark, are not safe [to eat]," mercury campaigner Michael Bender told IPS.

Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that makes its way up to the food chain into humans. Even slight exposure to its most toxic form, methylmercury, causes irreversible damage to developing brain of children. In some countries, women of child-bearing age are advised not to eat certain types of fish with high mercury levels, particularly large predatory fish which have been established to contain high levels of mercury.

Bender, director of the Mercury Policy Project, a U.S.-based organisation promoting policies to eliminate mercury use, said, "The main concern is that pregnant mothers and foetuses are at greater risk of developing complications from consuming mercury contaminated fish."

While public awareness of poisoning from fish contamination is crucial, questions are being raised over the practicability of this dietary suggestion. "Such dietary restriction is terrible and impossible for many fisher communities in the world. For some people, because of the poverty level, fish is all they can afford because they can get it very fast straight from the water," said a statement by the Women's Major Group, comprising women present at the UNEP governing council meeting.

Another source of mercury poisioning is the substantial amounts of mercury used in mineral processing, often in highly unsafe and environmentally hazardous conditions. It is estimated that in more than 50 developing countries across Asia, Africa and South America, there are about 15 million artisanal and small-scale miners.

Upwards of 100 million people may be affected, directly and indirectly, by mercury from this sector, according to a 2007 global mercury project undertaken jointly by the Global Environment Facility, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme.

"The workers are working in mines handling mercury like water; without gloves, barefoot and almost naked. They go back home with traces of mercury on their hands, putting the lives of those they live with in danger of inhaling mercury vapour," said Hemsing Hurrynag, the Africa coordinator Zero Mercury Campaign, an international coalition of 75 non-governmental organisations advocating for mercury reduction.

He says there is little awareness of the dangers of mercury both to humans and the environment in communities surrounding mines, where extensive environmental degradation and ecosystem contamination has been recorded, going on for decades after mining activities have ceased.

A UNEP 2008 publication, Mercury Use in Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining, states that the rising price of gold - up from 260 dollars per ounce in March 2001 to over 1000 dollars per ounce in March 2008 - has seen a gold rush involving poverty-driven miners in many countries. Small-scale mining provides an important source of income in rural communities and regions where economic alternatives are limited.

Given that emissions from one country are transported through the air water, mercury emissions are a global issue. Earlier resistance to a legally-binding treaty came from countries that are heavily dependent on coal for power generation. India and China previously supported only voluntary cuts in emissions. The new government of the United States also reversed its position, clearing the way for negotiations to begin. Under the Bush administration, the U.S. opposed any international efforts to reach legally-binding agreements such as the one now proposed for mercury.

The intended treaty is expected to reduce production of mercury, provide for safe storage of existing stockpiles and establish awareness creation mechanisms that will inform populations about the threats posed by this toxic substance.

According to UNEP's executive director, Achim Steiner, the global nature of mercury pollution requires well-coordinated international efforts that compel countries to commit to each other. And his organisation is embarking straight away on action.