Minamata Convention and UNEP Global Mercury Partnership

Eisaku Toda

Chemicals and Waste Branch

United Nations Environment Programme

Outline

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• Minamata and GMP: twin track approach • Minamata Convention: outline, where we are, role of

science, effectiveness evaluation • Global Mercury Partnership • GMP and Minamata: Issues for the future

The Minamata Convention on Mercury

• Objective (art. 1) – to protect the human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury

• Operational articles (art. 3-12) • Support to Parties (13-15) • Information, research, awareness-

raising (16-22) • Administrative matters (23-35)

January 2013: Governments agreed at INC 5 to the text of the “Minamata Convention on Mercury” October 2013: Text of the Minamata Convention adopted and opened for signature at DipCon in Kumamoto, Japan As of October 2015: 128 signatories, 18 parties Entry into force: 90th day after the date of deposit of the 50th instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession

Adoption and entry

into force

For information purposes only

Establishment of ad hoc working group of experts on financing

Extension of eligibility criteria for enabling activities to non-signatories, provided those States are taking meaningful steps towards becoming a Party

Adoption pending COP1 of forms for Hg trade, formats for registration of exemptions and for register of exemptions

Adoption of the rules of procedure for BAT/BEP expert group

Governments have been invited to provide information/comments on: Factors for identifying stocks and sources of mercury

Whether additional guidance is necessary in accordance with Article 3.12

The availability of monitoring data

Sound mercury interim storage practices adopted and successfully implemented

Their use of mercury waste thresholds and the levels established

The UNEP GMP guidance on the development of ASGM national action plans

The draft guidance on BAT/BEP for emissions

INC 6, Bangkok, Nov 2014

Issues for consideration at INC7 include: Guidance in relation to Article 3 Guidance on ASGM Guidance on BAT/BEP developed by the expert group Compilation of submissions on storage and on the use of mercury waste

thresholds

Contaminated sites (issue was deferred to INC7) Reporting requirements Effectiveness evaluation – acquiring monitoring data Decisions with regard to Article 13, including with regard to the specific

international Programme MoU between the COP and the GEF Council Rules of procedure and draft Financial Rules for the COP Permanent secretariat for the Convention

INC 7, Dead Sea, Jordan, 10-15 March 2016

For information purposes only

Scientific Community and Minamata Convention

• Building momentum for international action and guiding negotiations

• Facilitating implementation at the national level

• Ensuring effective and measureable policy results

Minamata Convention Art. 19 Research, development and monitoring

• Parties shall endeavour to cooperate to develop and improve: – Inventories of use, consumption, emissions releases of mercury;

– Modelling and geographically representative monitoring of mercury in vulnerable populations and in environmental media;

– Assessments of the impact of mercury on human health and the environment;

– Information on the environmental cycle, transport, transformation and fate of mercury…

• Parties should, where appropriate, build on existing monitoring networks and research programmes.

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Minamata Convention Art. 22 Effectiveness evaluation

• COP shall evaluate the effectiveness of the Convention, beginning no later than six years after the entry into force and periodically thereafter.

• COP1 shall initiate the establishment of arrangements for providing itself with comparable monitoring data on mercury in the environment, in biotic media and vulnerable populations.

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Effectiveness evaluation of Stockholm Convention

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Global Mercury Partnership: Origins and Objective

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Initiated in 2005 by a decision of the UNEP Governing Council.

Worked in parallel, and contributed, to the INC negotiations from 2009-2013.

Overall Goal: to protect human health and the global environment from the release of mercury and its compounds by minimizing and, where feasible, ultimately eliminating global, anthropogenic mercury releases to air, water and land.

The Eight Partnership Areas

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1. ASGM- UNIDO, NRDC 2. Coal combustion- IEA Clean Coal Centre 3. Chlor-alkali- US EPA 4. Products- US EPA 5. Transport and fate- CNR (Italy), BRI (US) 6. Waste management- Japan 7. Supply and storage- Spain, Uruguay 8. Cement- WBC Cement Sustainability Initiative

Current partners

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26 governments – Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Iraq, Italy (Italian National Research Council

(CNR) - Institute for Atmospheric Pollution), Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea - Mineral Resources Authority, Philippines, Portugal, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tanzania, United States of America, Uruguay, European Commission

7 intergovernmental bodies – Basel Convention, Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific, Basel and Stockholm Conventions Regional Centre for

francophone countries in Africa, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), World Health Organization (WHO)

111 civil society/industry/ individuals – Asociación Argentina de Médicos por el Medio Ambiente (AAMMA), Action d'Etude et de Valorisation de l'Environnement (ACEVE), Association for Responsible Mining (ARM), Artisanal Gold Council, Association d'Etude et

de mise en valeur des Ressouces Naturelles et des Institutions (ASERNI), Associazione Malttie da Intossicazione Cronica e/o Ambientale (A.M.I.C.A), Balifokus, Ban Toxics, BioDiversity Reseach Institute, Blacksmith Institute, Brooks Rand Instruments, Centre de Recherche et d'Education pour le Développement (CREPD), Center for Environmental Governance - Ghana, Centre pour l'Environment et le Dévelopment RDC, Centre for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED), Community Foundation, Consumers for Dental Choice, Day Hospital Institute for Development & Rehabilitation (DHIDR - Egypt), Earthworks, Ecological Restorations, Education for All in Africa (EDUCAF), Environmental Health Council, Environmental Law Institute, Environment, Health and Disaster Management Initiative (EHDMI), European Lamp Companies Federation (ELC), Grupo Parques Nacionales Panamá / Alianza Contaminación Cero, Health Care Without Harm, International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine (IABDM), International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, International Federation of Dental Educators and Associations (IFDEA), International POP's Elimination Network (IPEN), Informer, Sensibiliser, Eduquer sur les Polluants Organiques Persistants en Cote d´Ivoire (ISE-POPS-CI), International Commission on Geosciences for Environmental Management (GEM), a comission of the International Union of Geosciences (IUGS), International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE), Kyrgyz Mining Association, Lumencor, MERCURIADOS, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), New World Hope Organization (NWHO), Occupational Knowledge International (OK International), Pollution control Association of Liberia, Pollution Probe, Pro-Biodiversity Conservationists in Uganda (PROBICUO), Responsible Jewellery Council, Safe Minds, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), Solidaridad, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), The Money Stone, Uganda Network on Toxic Free Malaria Control (UNETMAC), World Chlorine Council, World Dental Federation (FDI), World Medical Association (WMA), Young Naturalist Network, Zero Mercury Working Group, Zoï environment network, Albemarle, ARCADIS US, Inc., Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers (ALMR), Cabot Corporation, Cardno ENTRIX, CETAC Technologies, Chungnam National University, Dartmouth College, Department of Toxicology Faculty of Chemical Science and Pharmacy (USAC), Econ Industries GmbH, EERC (Energy & Environmental Research Center) University of North Dakota), Encinal Resources, Environmental Visual Artist, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Geological Survey USA, GEOMIN, Great Lakes Solutions, Hg. Recoveries Pty. Ltd., IEA - Clean Coal Centre. Illinois Institute of Technology Herek L. Clack, Institute for Combustion Science and Environmental Technology (ICSET), International Association for Dental Research (IADR), International Dental Manufacturers (IDM), Instituto Nacional Del Carbon (INCAR), Investhill Group, Lehigh University Energy Research Center, Lextran, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (UMASS), Macquarie University, MineResearch, National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Niksa Energy Associates (NEA), Nomura Kohsan co., LTD., OIKON - Institute for Applied Ecology, Peerless Green Initiatives, Rayovac, Reaction Engineering International, Sang-Joon Yoo, Scientific Research Institute for Atmospheric Air Protection, S&P Trading, State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion - Huazhong University of Sciences and Technology, Syracuse University - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Transparence S.A., Tsinghua University, TÜV Theinland Immissionsschutz und Energiesysteme GmbH Vosteen Consulting GmbH, University of Stuttgart - IFK, Umwelt Technik Meatllrecycling (UTM), V.L. Natarajan, Vosteen Consulting Gmbh Germany, World Coal Association, Yonsei University

Partnership Advisory Group

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Comprised of Partnership area leads, nominated Partners, and other representatives

Current Chair – Atle Fretheim, Norway Functions – provide strategic direction, review business

plans, report on activities , promote collaboration and synergies among Partnership areas

Most recent meeting – PAG6 in Bangkok, Thailand, November 2014

PAG7 to be held back to back with INC7, to be held in Jordan on 10-15 March 2016

Partnership Contribution to the

Minamata Convention

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Goal of the Partnership parallels objective of the Convention Partnership areas parallel specific articles in the Convention Partnership’s efforts will assist countries with ratification and implementation

Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) partnership area

Strategic planning: Philippines, Cambodia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Cote

d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria

Field level work: Peru, Ecuador, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire,

Senegal, Indonesia, Philippines

Practical Guide to Reducing Mercury Use in ASGM Analysis of Formalization Approaches (case studies include Tanzania and Uganda) ASGM Project Library Draft NAP Guidance

– Mandated by INC 6, to be reported to INC 7 Workshops and forums

Fate and Transport Partnership Area

• Undertakes efforts to better understand the long range transport of mercury and its fate in the environment, including biomonitoring

• Close ties with the Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS) that conducts worldwide measurements of mercury from natural and anthropogenic sources

GEF Project on mercury monitoring

• Title: Development of a Plan for Global Monitoring of Human Exposure to and Environmental Concentration of Mercury

• Executing agency: UNEP

• Project partners: CNR, WHO

• Nov 2014 – Oct 2016

• Review of existing information, pilot testing of environmental and human bio monitoring, drafting of monitoring plans

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Summary

• Minamata Convention requests parties to cooperate in research, development and monitoring.

• Governments/parties will consider the arrangements for effectiveness evaluation of the Convention at INC7 and COP1.

• Global Mercury Partnership can provide a platform for cooperation and scientific input.

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