Global mercury treaty gets go-ahead

Legal Brief

Source: United Nations Environment Programme Global Mercury Assessment, 2002, using J. Pacyna 1995 data, as presented by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme

Publishing Date: 12 Mar 2009 10:51am GMT
Author: Mining Environmental Management

More than 140 countries have agreed to begin talks that could lead to a legally-binding treaty to reduce global mercury emissions by 2013.

The plan was agreed upon at a UN gathering of world environmental ministers in Kenya in February and could see work on the treaty begin next year.

Mercury, a highly toxic substance, is used in large quantities in artisanal mining, where its use in unregulated and it is often inhaled by artisanal worker.

Mercury is also produced as a by-product from other forms of mining as well as coal-fired power stations.

The treaty has been welcomed by the Zero Mercury Working Group, a coalition of non-government organisations working towards zero emissions, demand and supply of mercury around the world.

Last year the European Union pledged to ban all mercury exports from March 2011, the US also has a similar ban that will take effect from 2013. The US’s agreement to the mercury treaty has been a reversal of previous policy, in which it had sought voluntary emissions reductions.