July 22, 2011
This week, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a new draft treaty text designed to protect human health and the environment from mercury pollution. During the second round of negotiations (INC-2) in January of 2011, countries negotiating requested that UNEP prepare a new draft of the treaty to reflect the full range of views expressed during the meeting and in subsequent written submissions. This new draft text marks another important milestone on the road toward a legally-binding treaty to control mercury pollution worldwide. The next round of international negotiations is scheduled for October 31 to November 4, 2011 at the third meeting, INC-3, in Nairobi, Kenya.
CIEL Senior Consulting Attorney Glenn Wiser, who co-wrote the INC-2 and INC-3 treaty texts for the UNEP mercury secretariat, explains the crucial need to control mercury on a global level: “Once we take it from the earth’s crust where it naturally occurs and introduce it into our human environment, that’s where it stays. Forever.” Mercury pollution can affect the neurological development of unborn fetuses and children, causing life-long impairment of cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills.
The draft treaty text addresses important global challenges including:
- supply of, and international trade in, mercury;
- products and processes that use mercury, including artisanal and small-scale gold mining;
- emissions and releases of mercury into the atmosphere, water, and land; and
- mercury storage, wastes and contaminated sites.
The draft also contains important provisions on financial and technical assistance for developing countries and economies in transition, research, monitoring and awareness building.
Additional Information
- Advance copy of the draft treaty text
- Positions of countries during international negotiations for a mercury treaty
- UNEP Mercury Programme