NEW ZEALAND RESPONSE FOR SUPPORT OF PARTNERSHIPS

UNCLAS WELLINGTON 000967 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR OES/ENV - JOHN THOMPSON AND EAP/ANP - DAN RICCI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV EMIN UNEP NZ SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND RESPONSE FOR SUPPORT OF PARTNERSHIPS TO REDUCE MERCURY POLLUTION REF: SECSTATE 218928 ¶1. Poloff on December 6 provided reftel demarche points to Lesley Woudberg, Senior Advisor, Environment Division, NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). On December 13, Woudberg responded that GNZ is following the UN Environment Program (UNEP) 2005 decision on mercury closely and is interested in seeing how effective a partnership approach will be, believing approaches other than an international agreement are likely to be most effective. However, she said that New Zealand is not in a position to actively pursue partnerships, and GNZ does not see mercury as a high priority for New Zealand at this time. ¶2. Woudberg said that New Zealand faces low risk of mercury from human sources, noting that New Zealand does not have chlor-alkali facilities, or artisanal and small-scale gold mining that use mercury. There is relatively little coal combustion in New Zealand. In order to meet its Kyoto obligations, New Zealand has recently introduced new air quality standards. While these do not specifically target mercury, they will reduce mercury produced by coal combustion. Woudberg also noted low external risk, indicating that New Zealand has no large scale, "up wind" producers, and that circulation patterns in the Southern Hemisphere do not appear to have the same concentrating effects as those in the Northern Hemisphere. ¶3. While noting that the level of risk from human sources is low, Woudberg indicated that New Zealand does have a "relatively high level" mercury problem. She indicated that these mercury levels are naturally-occurring and stem from volcanic activity. As a result, GNZ has standards related to the mercury levels in fish, for example. Burnett