Mercury

The ACAP Mercury PSG coordinates and facilitates Arctic Council demonstration projects that reduce the release of mercury into the environment, communicate results, and coordinate synergies between projects.

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Item
    Feasibility Study for ACAP Demonstration Project on improved system for collection, storage, transport and treatment of mercury-containing waste (MCW) in NW Region of the Russian Federation
    (Arctic Contaminants Action Program, 2010-03) ; Danish Ministry of the Environment, Danish Environmental Protection Agency
    The ACAP Mercury Project is linked to a number of international agreements that address the mercury issue. The “Heavy Metals Protocol of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP-HM)” is the only existing agreement that has the potential of covering all the Arctic Countries1. Three other major agreements are the “North American Regional Action Plan on Mercury”; the “Helsinki Convention ("HELCOM")” and the "Oslo-Paris "OSPAR" Convention", together covering all of the Arctic Countries, also addressing mercury. In addition, the UNEP Governing Council has agreed to the development of partnerships as one approach to reducing the risks to human health and the environment from the release of mercury and its compounds to the environment from the relevant sectors hereunder consumption, chloro-alkali, coal combustion and gold mining. The “Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)” is another relevant convention. The overall objective of the ACAP Mercury Project is to contribute to reduction of mercury releases from the Arctic Countries. In the first phase of the ACAP Mercury Project, preliminary assessments have been made to identify and quantify the mercury release sources, both specifically in the Russian Federation and across all the eight Arctic countries. In the report “Assessment of Mercury Releases from the Russian Federation” (2005) an estimate of the releases of mercury from the Russian territory2 is presented. During this project a questionnaire on assessment of the MCW management activities in 7 territories in NW Russia has been send out. The questionnaires have been followed-up by a mission to Murmansk, Karelia, Arkhangelsk, Komi, and Leningrad in October 2007 with the purpose to further assess the present status of MCW management in the participating territories. The roundtrip was completed by a meeting with the Federal Service of Environmental, Technological and Atomic Supervision, Rostechnadzor in Moscow.
  • Item
    Assessment of Existing and Planned Initiatives Addressing Mercury Sources in the Arctic States and Identification of Possible Measures for Follow-up
    (Arctic Council Action Plan to Eliminate Pollution of the Arctic, 2006) Danish Ministry of the Environment, Danish Environmental Protection Agency
    In order to address the common concern of increasing mercury levels in the Arctic (AMAP reports), the Arctic Council launched the ACAP project "Reduction of Atmospheric Mercury Releases from Arctic States". With the objective to "identify important anthropogenic source categories for mercury emission within the Arctic region and to initiate cost effective reduction measures at one or a few specific sources or plants that could serve as pilot projects", the project task was to "use this information to identify and prioritise source categories for possible reduction measures, and promote development of action plan or strategies for mercury emission". The AMAP findings showed that efforts to reduce the mercury load in the Arctic should continue to be directed both inwards, among the Arctic States, and outwards, towards other states hemispherically or globally. The commitment to do so is reflected in the ministerial declarations. Scope During the work with the project on Reduction of Atmospheric Mercury Releases from Arctic States ("the ACAP Mercury Project"), it has been discussed by the countries and other stakeholders represented in the project steering group, whether there was a need for additional regional initiatives on mercury reduction under the auspices of the Arctic Council. Regarding the ACAP project Reduction of Atmospheric Mercury Releases from Arctic States, the ACAP Steering Committee agreed at their meeting in October 2004, on the following: "A second report, on “Arctic Mercury Releases Inventory” has been prepared and the inventory of source categories is ready for approval by the Project Steering Group. The ACAP Steering Committee agreed that the report should also contain the regional assessment of existing and planned initiatives addressing the source categories in the Arctic states and identify possible measures for follow-up. "
  • Item
    Assessment of Mercury Releases from the Russian Federation. Reduction of Atmospheric Mercury Releases from Arctic States
    (Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP), 2005) Russian Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Atomic Supervision; Danish Environmental Protection Agency; COWI A/S
    The present assessment has been prepared as part of the ACAP (Arctic Council Action Plan to Eliminate Pollution of the Arctic) study "Reduction of atmospheric mercury releases from Arctic states". The assessment of anthropogenic mercury releases from Russian sources has been prepared by combining official Russian environmental statistics with expert estimates obtained on the basis of an assessment of mercury used intentionally or mobilised (as impurity) within different activity categories. For each activity category the flow of mercury is traced from production/ extraction to final release or disposal. The assessment does not cover eventual mercury consumption for defence industry applications.
  • Item
    ACAP Arctic Mercury Releases Inventory
    (Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP), 2005)
    This report is part of the ACAP Mercury project. The objective of the report is to present and analyse compiled data on mercury releases from the Arctic countries, summarise existing initiatives to reduce mercury releases, and propose options for further release reductions. The report has been prepared primarily on the basis of the Arctic countries’ responses to a questionnaire on mercury releases, uses and wastes. It should be noted that the data from the Russian Federation were extracted from the report "Assessment of Mercury Releases from the Russian Federation", also prepared as part of this ACAP project (ACAP 2004), because official response to the mercury questionnaire from the Russian Federation has not yet been received. In addition, relevant information from various other recent national and international compilations and studies has been included in the report preparation. This document presents mercury data which for some countries have been newly updated, partly inspired by - and prepared for the needs of - this study. For other countries, the submitted mercury data have been prepared and reported in other, previous inventories.