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After more than ten years of lobbying by WWF, shipping states within the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) have ratified legislation that bans the use of tributyltin (TBT) in anti-fouling systems of ships.

TBT is an organic compound often used as an additive in many marine anti-fouling paints, which kills algal and barnacle growth and anything else that attaches to ships. The problem is that the chemical is highly toxic to many marine organisms. Even at low concentrations it causes deformations in oysters and genital changes in snails. The decline of commercial oysters along the Atlantic coast of France and the UK in the 1970s is attributed to TBT contamination.

“This [the ban] is a tremendous victory for the marine environment, but one that is long overdue,” said Dr Simon Walmsley, Head of WWF-UK’s Marine Programme.

“It has been over forty years since TBT’s negative impacts were first identified and seven years since legislation to ban TBT was agreed, yet we have only now achieved a global ban.”

Panama, which flags one of the world’s biggest shipping fleets, helped bring about the ban. A total of 25 states representing 25 per cent of world shipping tonnage had to ratify the IMO’s anti-fouling systems convention to bring the ban into force globally.

The global ban will be introduced in 12 months time. Any vessel still using anti-fouling paints which contain TBT will have to use a safer alternative.

News Inside inews
Shipping Nations Ban Toxic Cleaning Agent
The diversity of life isn't evenly distributed around the globe. It is concentrated in certain areas, making them a greater priority for conservation.

Through an exhaustive study that involved a team of leading scientists, biologists and policy experts, we determined that the most effective way to make a lasting difference in preserving the delicate diversity of nature is to identify those places that are of greatest significance.

The WWF Global 200 is our blueprint for identifying the areas of abundant and representative diversity around the world -- those places that must be saved in the next 50 years. We have now further refined our focus on 19 places that are of the highest priority, based on the wealth and diversity of life they support, the destructive challenges they face, and our ability to impact them within the next decade.

These 19 spectacular places include the world's largest and most intact tropical rain forests, the most diverse freshwater systems, the most varied coral reefs, the most biologically significant deserts, and the most productive fishing grounds.

Man Behind :
Dr Simon Walmsley
Head of WWF-UK’s Marine Programme.

http://www.worldwildlife.org

Release link: http://www.worldwildlife.org