Daniel Wallis, Reuters 20 Feb 09;
NAIROBI (Reuters) - More than 140 nations agreed on Friday to negotiate a legally binding global treaty to phase out the use of deadly mercury, a toxic heavy metal that threatens the health of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
The deal came at a major U.N. meeting of environment ministers in Kenya after President Barack Obama's new administration said on Monday the United States had reversed its stance on the issue and was now in favor of a legal ban.
"This is truly good news and I hope that citizens across the world will embrace this decision," U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) head Achim Steiner told a news conference.
"Today the world's environment ministers, armed with the full facts and full choices, decided the time for talking was over but the time for action on this pollution is now."
About 6,000 tons of mercury -- which has been known for more than a century to damage the human nervous system -- enter the environment every year. Mercury's other effects include liver damage, memory loss or disturbances to vision.
Of the total, 2,000 tons is from coal burned in power stations and homes. Increased coal use in Asia means emissions may be rising, UNEP experts fear.
Western countries have slashed their usage of mercury, but activists say poorer nations are increasingly relying on it for processes including small-scale gold mining.
The new agreement covers a package of measures aimed at reducing demand in industrial products and processes, while also seeking to cut emissions to the atmosphere and clean up contaminated sites.
The European Union had already called for an international treaty, and hopes were high ahead of this week's meeting that the new U.S. government would reverse its predecessor's stance and support that. Some states favor a voluntary approach.
Preparations for negotiations on the treaty will start later this year, officials said, with discussions beginning in earnest in 2010 and aiming to wrap up by 2013.
Anti-mercury campaigners hailed Friday's unanimous agreement, saying the U.S. U-turn had encouraged other countries, notably India and China, to back the proposal.
"This was made possible by President Obama's global view and the inspiration and momentum generated by it," said Michael Bender, director of the U.S. Mercury Policy Project and the Zero Mercury Working Group.
Breakthrough deal to end global mercury pollution
• Treaty to reduce supply of mercury and its use in products
• Deal seen as first success of new Obama administration
Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk 20 Feb 09;
Environment ministers overcame seven years of obstacles today and committed to reducing the world's mercury pollution.
In a sign of America's return to a global leadership role, United Nations environment ministers meeting in Nairobi agreed to take immediate steps to limit exposure to mercury.
The White House said it would press hard for a legally binding treaty when negotiations get under way later this year.
"The United States will play a leading role in working with other nations to craft a global, legally binding agreement that will prevent the spread of mercury into the environment," said Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House council on environmental quality.
The Bush administration had blocked international efforts to limit mercury - although such protections are in place in America.
Mercury, which can travel thousands of miles from its original source, damages the central nervous system, and is especially dangerous to pregnant women and babies.
The treaty will include measures to reduce the supply of mercury and its use in products, such as thermomenters, and processes, like paper making. It will also seek to cut back on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, which are responsible for about half of the world's mercury pollution.
The new-found consensus in Nairobi, which saw the US, India and China lifting their resistance to a binding global mercury treaty, raised hopes for progress later this year at the crucial UN meeting in Copenhagen on an international climate change deal.
"There was a seismic shift from the American government from its previous position," said Nick Nuttall, the spokesman for the UN environment programme. "It was clear from the beginning of this week that the US negotiators had been given a clear line from Washington, and indeed the White House, to come together with the rest of the world and do something."
"The US has taken a leadership role that will chart a new course on mercury protections around the world. We have set a strong example that is already influencing others to do the same," said Susan Egan Keane, an analyst at the US National Resources Defence Council.
Barack Obama had earlier taken a number of steps at home to break with the George Bush legacy on the environment - most notably restoring the power of government agencies to regulate carbon dioxide from power plants.
The strong push from the US side in Nairobi this week evidently helped wear down resistance from governments such as China and India. China is heavily dependent on coal-fired power plants, while Indian manufacturers still use many processes that depend on the metal.
The eight-point plan agreed on Friday calls for reduction in mercury emissions from power plants, and in its use in thermometers and other household products, as well as in plastics production and paper-making. It would cut down on the use of mercury in gold panning, a process that results in huge quantities of the heavy metal being washed into streams.
Mercury is a naturally occurring element, but pollution has caused levels to rise sharply in many fish species, increasing the danger to humans that eat them.
"Today the world's environment ministers, armed with the full facts and full choices, decided the time for talking was over - the time for action on this pollution is now," said Unep's director, Achim Steiner.
Formal treaty negotiations will get underway later this year, with a view to reaching a final agreement in 2013.
(Editing by David Clarke and Richard Hubbard)
States agree to mercury treaty talks
Yahoo News 20 Feb 09;
NAIROBI (AFP) – More than 140 countries agreed Friday to launch negotiations establishing a treaty on mercury to limit pollution affecting millions of people across the world, the UN environment body said.
They also agreed an interim plan to curb pollution while awaiting the treaty because "the risk to human health was so significant that accelerated action... is needed," the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a statement.
"Today we are united on the need for a legally binding instrument and immediate action towards a transition to a low-mercury world," UNEP chief Achim Steiner said at the end of the body's governing council meeting in Nairobi.
He added that world ministers who attended the week-long meeting "decided the time for talking was over. The time for action on this pollution is now."
The interim plan includes boosting countries' efforts on safe stockpiling of mercury, reducing supply and use among artisanal miners as well as reducing mercury in products such as thermometers.
Mercury is a heavy metal whose highly toxic compounds -- propagated notably by the production of coal, certain kinds of plastics and improper disposal of fluorescent light bulbs -- poison millions of people worldwide.
Fish-eating is the prime source of exposure among humans. The effects of mercury ingestion include damage to the brain, kidney and lungs.
