The United Nations (UN) has awarded a gold medal to the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) for its work in reducing the use of mercury in the world. The award was presented at an international conference held in Stockholm last week with the aim of reaching a binding agreement on the reduction of mercury by 2013.| According to a recent report funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, mercury emissions could be more than halved by 2020 compared to today. The metal industry and power plants which use fossil fuels are primarily responsible for mercury emissions derived from human activity. By using different types of filters and purification technologies, emissions could be drastically reduced. For example, the Finnish company Outotec has developed technology to reduce metal industry emissions which is now being used by dozens of production plants around the world. This has reduced mercury emissions by up to 300 tonnes per year.
The Stockholm meeting was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and was the first in a series of five conferences. The next round of negotiations will be held in Chiba, Japan, in early 2011. |
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UN praises work of Nordic Council of Ministers
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Before the conference, the Ministers of the Environment of the Nordic countries and Autonomous Territories of the Nordic countries made a joint statement in which they noted that mercury has many harmful effects on human health. Mercury can transform into a highly toxic form - methyl mercury - which then accumulates in, for example, fish and seafood. The population of the Arctic regions, whose diet is largely based on food from the sea, is particularly vulnerable. Research has shown that the babies of women in the Arctic, who are exposed to food with high mercury content, can be born with damage to the central nervous system, which can lead to, for example, impaired learning ability. |