CIEL Applauds Breakthrough Agreement on Mercury

World governments convening as the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) ended years of indecision when they agreed on February 20th in Nairobi, Kenya to commence negotiations on a treaty to tackle the global mercury pollution crisis. The decision was made possible, in part, by the United States' dramatic reversal of the anti-treaty policies of the former Bush Administration.

The treaty will be a comprehensive instrument that deals with all aspects of the mercury crisis, including the need to:

(a) reduce the supply of mercury and enhance the capacity for its environmentally sound storage;(b) reduce the demand for mercury in products and processes;
(c) reduce international trade in mercury;
(d) reduce atmospheric emissions of mercury;
(e) address mercury-containing waste and remediation of contaminated sites; and
(f) increase knowledge about mercury through awareness raising and scientific information exchange.

Additionally, negotiators will consider such issues as a compliance system for the treaty and arrangements for capacity building and technical and financial assistance for developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

CIEL played a pivotal role in assisting governments to make this historic decision. Under contract with UNEP, CIEL senior attorney Glenn Wiser joined the UNEP mercury team, which served as secretariat for the negotiations. For the two-year preparatory meetings of the "ad hoc open-ended working group on mercury" (OEWG) that preceded the Governing Council, Glenn wrote several of the key papers that framed the issues in play, identified possible ways forward, and provided the basis for negotiations. These included "Analysis of possible options to address the global challenges to reduce risks from releases of mercury," (UNEP(DTIE)/Hg/OEWG.1/2); "Further analysis of implementation options for long-term international action on mercury" (UNEP(DTIE)/Hg/OEWG.2/4); and "Financial resources for long-term international action on mercury: the Global Environment Facility and the structure of the Multilateral Fund" (UNEP(DTIE)/Hg/OEWG.2/3). Glenn also conceived and drafted the original "Common elements of a mercury framework" (UNEP(DTIE)/Hg/OEWG.2/8), which the OEWG eventually recommended to the Governing Council as one of its main outputs.

At the Governing Council session, Glenn served as legal advisor to the Chair of the mercury working group, John Roberts, and as the UNEP secretariat's lead in preparing the mercury decision text. He also assisted governments in developing approaches and textual language that allowed them to bridge their differences and reach consensus. CIEL looks forward to the possibility that Glenn may continue to serve the secretariat during the upcoming treaty negotiations.

During the intersessional periods between the OEWG and Governing Council meetings, Glenn also served as legal adviser to the Swiss Government in support of the Swiss-hosted series of "like-minded countries" meetings on mercury. These meetings provided a valuable forum for brainstorming and dialogue among countries of all levels of development from all regions of the world, and helped them to develop common views that greatly influenced the outcome of the UNEP Governing Council's mercury decision. Additionally, Glenn provided advice to CIEL's NGO partners in the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) and the Zero Mercury Working Group.

The United Nations Environment Programme will host a preparatory meeting for the treaty negotiations later this year, followed by the official commencement of negotiations in 2010. The "intergovernmental negotiating committee" will be open to participation of Member States of the United Nations as well as non-governmental organizations such as those of the Zero Mercury Working Group and the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN). Negotiations may span three years before the treaty is ready for governments to sign.

During the interim period between now and when the treaty becomes binding international law, the United Nations Environment Programme will support critically important, immediate activities to address the mercury problem and help set the stage for action under the treaty. Both these immediate activities and the treaty negotiations themselves will be informed by the "Elements of a comprehensive mercury framework" that the OEWG developed last year and recommended to the Governing Council.

To view the mercury decision as the Governing Council adopted it, please click here.