{"id":43688,"date":"2017-08-16T10:17:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T08:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=43688"},"modified":"2017-10-11T16:07:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T14:07:49","slug":"new-treatys-entry-into-force-set-to-curtail-global-mercury-crisis-say-ngos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/new-treatys-entry-into-force-set-to-curtail-global-mercury-crisis-say-ngos\/","title":{"rendered":"New treaty\u2019s entry into force set to curtail global mercury crisis, say NGOs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s entry into force of the Minamata Convention establishes the first new multilateral environmental agreement in over a decade.\u00a0 The Zero Mercury Working Group* has been calling for a legally binding treaty for over a decade and welcomes the new protocol.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cWhile there are alternatives to mercury, there are no alternatives to global cooperation,\u201d said Michael Bender, coordinator of the Zero Mercury Working Group. \u201cMercury respects no boundaries and exposes people everywhere.
\n\u201cOnly a global pact can curtail this dangerous neurotoxin.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October 2013 the convention text was adopted and signed by 128 countries, but would not take legal effect until at least 50 countries had ratified it formally. \u00a0This milestone was reached in May of this year, and the convention enters\u00a0into force today 16 August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now on the right track,\u201d said Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, Project Manager, European Environmental Bureau and ZMWG co- coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver time, the Convention is expected to provide the necessary technical and financial resources to reduce the risk of exposure to mercury\u00a0worldwide. Governments must therefore move swiftly towards efficient implementation of the Treaty\u2019s provisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The aim of the Convention is “to protect the human health and the environment\u201d from mercury releases.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The treaty holds critical obligations for Parties to ban new primary mercury mines while phasing out existing ones and also includes a ban on many common products and processes using mercury, measures to control releases, and a requirement for national plans to reduce mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining.\u00a0 In addition, it seeks to reduce trade, promote sound storage of mercury and its disposal, address contaminated sites and reduce exposure from this dangerous neurotoxin.<\/p>\n

The First Conference of the Parties will take place from 24 to 29 September 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland.\u00a0 Over 1,000 delegates and around 50 ministers are expected to assemble in Geneva to celebrate and lay the groundwork for the treaty\u2019s overall effectiveness.<\/p>\n

The Minamata Convention joins 3 other UN conventions seeking to reduce impacts from chemicals and waste \u2013 the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more information:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.mercuryconvention.org\/Negotiations\/COP1\/tabid\/5544\/language\/en-US\/Default.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n

www.zeromercury.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Notes to the editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mercury is a global pollutant that travels long distances. Its most toxic form \u2013 methylmercury – accumulates in large predatory fish and is taken up in our bodies through eating fish, with the worst impacts on babies\u00a0in utero<\/em>\u00a0and small children.<\/p>\n

*The\u00a0Zero Mercury\u00a0Working Group<\/strong>\u00a0(ZMWG) is an international coalition of\u00a0over 95\u00a0public interest environmental and health non-governmental organizations from\u00a0more than 50\u00a0countries from around the world formed in 2005 by the European Environmental Bureau and the Mercury Policy Project.\u00a0\u00a0ZMWG strives for zero supply, demand, and emissions of mercury from all anthropogenic sources, with the goal of reducing mercury in the global environment to a minimum.\u00a0 Our mission is to advocate and support the adoption and implementation of a legally binding instrument which contains mandatory obligations to eliminate where feasible, and otherwise minimize, the global supply and trade of mercury, the global demand for mercury, anthropogenic releases of mercury to the environment, and human and wildlife exposure to mercury.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s entry into force of the Minamata Convention establishes the first new multilateral environmental agreement in over a decade.\u00a0 The Zero Mercury Working Group* has been [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":44054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,131,4],"tags":[50,277],"class_list":["post-43688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-health","category-mercury","category-press-release","tag-mercury","tag-minamata-convention"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Mercury-2-web.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}