Minamata Convention On Mercury
Minamata Convention On Mercury
Minamata Convention On Mercury
This Convention was a result of three years of meeting and negotiating, after which the text
of the Convention was approved by delegates representing close to 140 countries on 19
January 2013 in Geneva and adopted and signed later that year on 10 October 2013 at a
Diplomatic Conference held in Kumamoto, Japan.
It is expected that over the next few decades, this international agreement will enhance the
reduction of mercury pollution from the targeted activities responsible for the major release
of mercury to the immediate environment.
Background on Mercury
Mercury is a naturally occurring element. It can be released to the environment from natural
sources – such as weathering of mercury-containing rocks, forest fires, volcanic eruptions
or geothermal activities – but also from human activities.
An estimated 5500-8900 tons of mercury is currently emitted and re-emitted each year to
the atmosphere, with much of the re-emitted mercury considered to be related to human
activity, as are the direct releases.
Due to its unique properties, mercury has been used in various products and processes for
hundreds of years. Currently, it is mostly utilised in industrial processes that produce
chlorine (mercury chlor-alkali plants) or vinyl chloride monomer for polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
production, and polyurethane elastomers.
It is extensively used to extract gold from ore in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. It is
contained in products such as electrical switches (including thermostats), relays, measuring
and control equipment, energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs, batteries and dental
amalgam. It is also used in laboratories, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, including in vaccines
as a preservative, paints, and jewellery.
Mercury is also released unintentionally from some industrial processes, such as coal-fired
power and heat generation, cement production, mining and other metallurgic activities such
as non-ferrous metals production, as well as from incineration of many types of waste.
For more than a decade, UN Environment has been actively engaged in bringing the
science of mercury poisoning to policy implementation. In 2001, the Executive Director of
UN Environment was invited by its Governing Council to undertake a global assessment of
mercury and its compounds, including the chemistry and health effects, sources, long-range
transport, as well as prevention and control technologies relating to mercury.
In 2003, the Governing Council considered this assessment and found that there was
sufficient evidence of significant global adverse impacts from mercury and its compounds to
warrant further international action to reduce the risks to human health and the environment
from their release to the environment. Governments were urged to adopt goals for the
reduction of mercury emissions and releases and UN Environment initiated technical
assistance and capacity-building activities to meet these goals.
A mercury programme to address the concerns posed by mercury was established and
further strengthened by governments in 2005 and 2007 with the UNEP Global Mercury
Partnership. In 2007, the Governing Council concluded that the options of enhanced
voluntary measures and new or existing international legal instruments should be reviewed
and assessed in order to make progress in addressing the mercury issue. In February 2009,
the Governing Council of UNEP decided to develop a global legally binding instrument on
mercury.
An intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) was promptly established, through which
countries negotiated and developed the text of the convention. Other stakeholders,
including intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations also participated in the
process and contributed through sharing of views, experience and technical expertise.[6] The
Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee was chaired by Fernando Lugris of Uruguay and
supported by the Chemicals and Health Branch of UN Environment's Economy Division.
The Convention entered into force 90 days after it had been ratified (or accepted, approved
or acceded to) by 50 States or regional economic integration organizations. Since the fifty-
ratification milestone was met as of 24 June 2017, the first meeting of the Conference of the
Parties to the Minamata Convention (COP1) took place from 24 to 29 September 2017 in
Geneva. Fernando Lugris, the Uruguayan chair delegate, proclaimed, "Today in the early
hours of 19 January 2013 we have closed a chapter on a journey that has taken four years
of often intense but ultimately successful negotiations and opened a new chapter towards a
sustainable future. This has been done in the name of vulnerable populations everywhere
and represents an opportunity for a healthier and more sustainable century for all peoples.
Effect of Mercury