A UN conference adopted a treaty on mercury control on Thursday near the site of Japan's worst industrial poisoning, as Tokyo pledged $2 billion to help poorer nations combat pollution.
Delegates from some 140 countries and territories were set to formally sign the world's first legally binding treaty on the highly toxic metal, late in the day, officials said.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is named after the Japanese city where tens of thousands of people were sickened — around 2,000 of whom have since died — by eating fish and shellfish taken from waters polluted by discharge from a local factory.
In a video message sent to the opening ceremony Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged $2 billion to help developing nations address environmental pollution between 2014 and 2016.
The treaty sets a phase-out date of 2020 for a long list of products — including mercury thermometers — and gives governments 15 years to end all mercury mining.
But environmental groups say it stops short of addressing the use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, which directly threatens the health of miners including child labourers in developing countries.
They also warn of health risks from eating the mercury-polluted meat of whales and dolphins, which occasionally feature in the diet of some coastal communities in Japan and elsewhere.
Because of their position near the top of the food chain, dolphins and whales frequently consume a large quantity of mercury from their prey.
The treaty will take effect once ratified by 50 countries — something the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) expects will take three to four years.
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