REGIONAL COOPERATION ON MERCURY CONTAMINATION, LIMA

UNCLAS BRASILIA 000452 SIPDIS STATE PASS EPA FOR CAM HILL-MACON AND S.HOFFMAN STATE FOR OES/PCI STATE FOR OES/ENV JOHN THOMPSON STATE FOR WHA/EPSC - LALLEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV TBIO PGOV ECON XR BR SUBJECT: REGIONAL COOPERATION ON MERCURY CONTAMINATION, LIMA WORKSHOP REF: (1) BRASILIA 000156; (2) BRASILIA 000271 ¶1. Summary: On February 1-3, 2005, the OES-supported Brasilia Environmental HUB brought together the officials responsible for the management and regulation of mercury use in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Suriname to formulate an action plan to minimize mercury contamination in the Amazon ecosystems. This meeting was a follow on to the First Annual Meeting for Regional Cooperation on Mercury Contamination in the Amazon Basin held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December 1-3, 2004. (BRASILIA 000156). Participants were successful in mapping out specific activities that will lead to a finalized action plan. ¶2. During the December meeting in Rio, government policy makers from Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) member countries met and decided to pool their information and resources and develop a regional plan to reduce the damage and devastation of mercury contamination. At the Lima meeting, the working group developed the roadmap that will take them forward. They finalized a questionnaire that will be used to determine the specifics of the contamination in each country, discussed aspects of a Mercury Portal, an internet webpage that will contain information on research and events relating to mercury pollution. The draft action plan was revised, the final version to be readied by April 30, 2005. There was considerable discussion of an earlier effort, the Landmark Agreement for Zero Contamination in the Rivers of the Amazon (1995) and the ACTO Strategic Plan. ¶3. Follow-up activities agreed upon include changing the term mazon Basin" to ""mazon Ecosystems of the Country Members of the ACTO" to accommodate Suriname, a valued contributor to the process but with no strictly shared watershed. They will also establish an email list to share information on mercury issues; and nominate, for ACTO's permanent secretariat, a point of contact responsible for mercury management in each country. ¶4. The Lima meeting was successful in establishing activities and improved international cooperation on the road to finalizing an action plan to control mercury contamination in the Amazon region. DANILOVICH