US embassy cable - 05BRASILIA452

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, Science 
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