Fw: GLOBAL MERCURY NGO GROUP FORMING

[Guest guest]

> Dear Friends and Colleagues working on Toxic Pollution and Health around

> the Globe:

>

>

> Greetings. We are writing to announce the formation of a global NGO

> Mercury Working Group and to seek inclusive, worldwide NGO public sector

> participation in it as the mercury issue rises in importance as an

> international environmental health issue.

>

> As you may be aware, last February the United Nations Environment

Program's

> Governing Council adopted a decision to launch a global assessment of the

> sources and impacts of mercury and are also expected to propose possible

> remedies. This is a welcome move as it may lead to a legal instrument

> (treaty or protocol to existing treaty) to deal with mercury and possibly

> other toxic heavy metals in the future. Such an assessment was similarly

> proposed for POPs several years ago which, as you know, has led to the

very

> successful outcome of a strong treaty to tackle POPs via phase-outs and

> elimination.

>

> The Nordic countries were in the forefront of pushing for the UN's global

> mercury assessment and the Basel Action Network (BAN) has been asked by

the

> Danish government to assist in facilitating NGO support for their

> assessment effort. We have agreed to do this and have initially sought

the

> assistance of Toxics Link of India, the Mercury Policy Project (Vermont,

> USA), the Environmental Health Fund (USA) for their organizational and

> issue area expertise. At the same time, we have made contact with the

> appropriate UNEP personnel and recently received a letter back expressing

> receptivity for coordinated NGO input from around the world. Specifically

> the above groups will be doing 3 things initially

>

> 1. Investigating the best diplomatic avenues for NGOs from all regions

> (not just North America, Japan and Europe) to influence the entire process

> of assessment and recommendations.

>

> 2. Drafting a report on Mercury in Developing Countries and its North to

> South Trade, including recommendations to stop the trafficking of mercury

> and the resulting circle of poison.

>

> 3. Convening an NGO Mercury Working Group to bring coherence,

coordination

> and leadership to the UNEP process and to lay the groundwork for a global

> agreement on mercury.

>

> With respect to number 3 above, what we are proposing at this stage is to

> create an active NGO Mercury Working Group--rather than creating yet

> another network. The Group would be made up of representatives of

existing

> toxics/health networks along with key mercury policy experts and activists

> from around the world. In this way, policy can be developed by a core

> group of especially concerned experts which could then have the broader

> endorsement from the entire array of networks and their member groups

which

> then, in turn, could then be fed into the UNEP process. Without such a

> group it is likely that only the larger transnational NGOs will have

> appropriate access to the UNEP process.

>

> In formulating this working group we will be looking for persons with

> adequate time to devote to the mercury issue, from a good geographic

> distribution of countries and regions. We are also seeking those that

> might serve as representatives of larger networks. The international

> networks we have currently identified that will likely have an interest in

> the mercury debate are the Basel Action Network (BAN), the Pesticide

Action

> Network (PAN), Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), Global Anti-Incineration

> Alliance (GAIA), and the International POPs Elimination Network

> (IPEN). Again, we will also be looking for representatives of mercury

> related work or concerns taking place around the world.

>

> It is foreseen that primary mission of the Global Mercury Working Group

> will be to provide the most effective NGO input to the UNEP process that

> will assure what has heretofore been the generally accepted NGO view that:

>

> a) Use of mercury must be phased out in both the South and the North and

> all new mining must cease;

>

> Mercury releases from all sources must be subject to continuing

> minimization, and ultimate elimination as feasible;

>

> c) Commodity transactions and global trade in mercury must be reduced and

> then eliminated;

>

> d) Long term storage facilities must be created to assure environmentally

> sound storage of existing quantities of mercury; and

>

> e) In the interim, the South must not become a dumping ground for

> mercury-based technologies, products and/or wastes; It's envisioned that

> initially we will do most of our communication work via email. In

> addition, we will be operating a list-serve for those persons interested

in

> the mercury issue in general and also for those of you that are very

> interested in the debate but are not able to actively participate in the

> Working Group due to time constraints.

>

> The first order of business of the working group will be to:

>

> 1. feed information to UNEP

> 2. provide NGO representation to UNEP

> 3. develop consensus recommendations and policy based on points a-e

above.

>

>

> We would be very interested in knowing if you would be interested in

>

> A) serving on the NGO Mercury Working Group and/or

> being part of a global mercury list-serve to receive NGO

> related information on the UNEP Mercury Program.

>

> Please let us know by email (jpuckett@... and MTBenderVT@...)

> before September 15. Thanks in advance for your response.

>

>

> Sincerely yours,

>

> Jim Puckett BAN, <http://www.ban.org/>http://www.ban.org

>

> Ravi Agarwal, Toxics Link India, BAN of India

>

> Jack Weinberg Environmental Health Fund

>

> Bender Mercury Policy

> Project, <http://www.mercurypolicy.org/>http://www.mercurypolicy.org

>

>