Negotiations on a global convention on mercury will begin in Stockholm in June 2010. This is clear now that the countries of the world have agreed on a timetable for the negotiations. The convention will cover all types of mercury use and emissions.
New mercury convention to be negotiated in Sweden in 2010
?This is very pleasing news. The Government banned the use of mercury in Sweden on 1 June 2009. Our aim ? and that of the EU ? has been clear: binding measures are also needed internationally. Now the work will get under way in earnest,? says Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren.
World environment ministers agreed in February 2009 that negotiations would begin on a global mercury convention covering all types of use and emissions. The aim is for a convention to be finalised by 2013. The first negotiations meeting will be held in Stockholm on 7?11 June 2010 and will be jointly organised by the Nordic Council of Ministers and Sweden.
The Swedish Presidency has led the EU in a preparatory working group meeting ahead of the negotiations on a new mercury convention. The meeting that concluded in Bangkok today agreed on procedural rules for the negotiating process and also discussed potential technical solutions to reduce the problems caused by mercury in the environment. Sweden was also chosen to represent the EU in the bureau for the entire negotiating process.
?We are very satisfied with the outcome of the meeting,? says Nina Cromnier, who is Head of Division at the Ministry of the Environment and has led the EU delegation. ?There are now good prospects of the negotiations moving at a good pace and being completed within the timeframe set by world environment ministers. That would set something of a record for negotiations on an environmental convention of this scale. And the fact that Sweden has been entrusted with representing the EU in the bureau for the negotiations makes it feel extra special.?
Background
Mercury is one of the most dangerous environmental toxins and can be a threat to both human health and the environment. Like other metals, mercury is not degradable; instead, it becomes concentrated in the soil, water and living organisms. It is also an element that can be transported over long distances by air. Metallic mercury can be transformed by natural processes into the highly toxic organic form known as methylmercury, which then accumulates in fish, for example. In the human body, methylmercury can be transmitted to a foetus and impact on foetal brain development, even at low concentrations.
Mercury pollution is regarded as a problem at global level as well. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which has commissioned a study of the situation, mercury is now present in the environment and food (particularly fish) at high enough concentrations to harm both people and the environment. Even regions without mercury emissions, such as the Arctic, are adversely affected because mercury can be transported over long distances by air. Population groups that eat a lot of fish, shellfish and marine mammals are particularly at risk. Sweden banned the use of mercury on 1 June 2009. Most of the mercury that falls on Swedish soil comes from other countries. Consequently, to reduce the pollution of the Swedish environment measures must be taken at all levels ? locally, in the EU and globally.
