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Chisso company opened = chemical company for nitrogenous fertilizers
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Minimata is a small factory town in Japan dominated by one factory; Chisso factory (makes petrochemical-based substances from fertilizer to plastics). Between 1932 and 1968 Chisso released an estimated 24 tonnes of mercury and methylmercury into Minamata Bay by releasing waste water from the factory process contaminated with the substances above.
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Beginning 1950's, several thousand people living in Minamata Bay started to suffer from mercury poisoning. Some bacteria changed elemental mercury to modified form called methylmercury> easily absorbed into bodies of small organisms(shrimp). Shrimps are eaten by fish, methylmercury enters fish and since it does not break down easily (stays in fish for long time). As fish eat more shrimp level of methylmercury increases. The same increase happends with humans when they eat fish. mercury poisoning
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refrigerator
washing machine
television
= chemical waste -
Cause of Minimata disease: poisoning from methylmercury from food
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Linked the chemical industry with methylmercury poisoning
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Chisso stopped dumping mercury
Japan's GNP 2nd world -
An EIA is a report prepared before a development project to change the use of land. looks at negative and positive impact it has on an environment. An EIA is part of a planning process that governments use when large developments are considered. They provide a documented way of examining environmental impacts (are used as evidence in decision making to accept new development or not). EIA's differ from country to country. EIA comes from the NEPA created in 1969 by the US.
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Made it a priority natural environment before planning. An EIA needs to be able to identify impacts (scope), predict the scale of potential impacts and limit the effect of impacts to acceptable limits.
Unfortunately EIAs have a few weaknesses. They include; different countries having different standards; which makes it hard to compare, hard to determine where the boundary of the investigation should be and finally difficult to consider all indirect impacts of a development . -
In 1970, the WHO banned the use of DDT (a persistent organochlorine insecticide). Still used in some countries in the tropics (small quantities) for killing malarial mosquitoes --> Anopheles. Banning DDT does more harm or good? malaria kills 2.7 million people a year, children<5, infects 300-500 million/year. It is thought DDT prevented millions of deaths however has effect on birds of prey = thinning eggshells, reducing pop numbers.
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1972; In the US on the advice on US Environmental Protection Agency, the manufacture + use of DDT was banned. Use of DDT has been banned in most MEDCs, but not banned for public health use where malaria is endemic. DDT recently exempted from a proposed worldwide ban on organophosphate chemicals. DDT for malaria controls involves spray walls furniture, kill to repel transmission of mosquitoes carrying malarial parasite. = heap, persistent, toxic. Mosquitoes become more resistant.
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Discovery of Ozone hole led to a fast response on national and international levels. The Montreal Protocol was an international agreement made by the UN to phase out the production of the Ozone depleting substances such as CFC (spray cans. One of the most successful international cooperative ventures to date.
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Water in Minimata Bay is clean
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An international agreement signed in 1997 and implemented in 2005. International treaty among industrialized nations that sets mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Six main greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons, Sulphur hexafluoride. Aims: reduce onset of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system
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1st UNEP report:
-issues related to mercury -
legally binding document is needed
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Minimata Bay convention ia established
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-2015 was the target year for the previous goals (MDGs, 8 goals). Set of 8 goals established in 2005 at UN summit in NY. Document with three chapters was published: -Freedom from want, Freedom from fear, Freedom to Live in Dignity.
2015 UN Summit in NY redesigned old goals into 17 Sustainable Development Goals, "Agenda for Sustainable Development" with target 2030. Came into effect in 2016, target year 2030.