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