Events

The Global Mercury Partnership, Mercury Air Transport and Fate Partnership Area, and the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention, together with the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant and the Geneva Environment Network co-organized a webinar on “Multimedia modelling of global mercury movement” as part of Minamata Online Sessions.

The Global Mercury Partnership participated in the webinar on Mercury material flow – waste, organized on 15 October 2020 as part of the Minamata online initiative from the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention.

Second event under the “mercury science” stream, this webinar shared available resources on mercury material flow with a focus on waste stream. Presentations were followed by a panel discussion on how to improve the knowledge on mercury material flow in waste stream.

The event featured presentations by the following speakers:

The Global Mercury Partnership and its Area of work on mercury in products organized, in cooperation with World Health Organization (WHO), on 13 October 2020 a webinar on mercury-containing medical devices. 

Moderated by the Global Mercury Partnership Secretariat, this webinar had the following objectives:

Minamata online is an initiative from the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention.

On 29 September 2020, Minamata Online held an information session on “Mercury material flow: Supply, demand and trade”.

Webinar for the Spanish speaking countries in Latin America and Caribbean region.

The webinar presented the global status and progress made on NAP development and reviewed the available tools and assistance from the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership and others. Honduras and Ecuador shared the challenges that national teams have encountered during NAP development process or related projects (e.g. planetGOLD). Finally, participants shared their experiences and discussed possible solutions, including with respect to the future NAP implementation and sector transformation.

Kick-off webinar: Wednesday 29 April 2020

The Partnership Advisory Group decided at its tenth meeting (Geneva, November 2019) to initiate work on the issue of mercury from non-ferrous mining and smelting, identified as a cross-cutting topic amongst different Partnership areas.

Kick-off webinar: Thursday 23 April 2020

The Partnership Advisory Group decided at its tenth meeting (Geneva, November 2019) to initiate work on the issue of mercury from oil and gas production, identified as a cross-cutting topic amongst different Partnership areas.

The Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) Partnership area held a virtual meeting on 4 February 2020.

Development of National Action Plans (NAPs) for artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is an obligation under Article 7 of the Minamata Convention for each Party that determines that mercury use in ASGM in its territory is “more than insignificant”. Recognizing that the sector is closely linked to complex economic, social and environmental issues, the Convention allows flexible, country-specific solutions through the development of NAP to reduce and where feasible eliminate mercury use in the ASGM sector.

At the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention, the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership Area on Mercury releases from coal combustion organized a side event entitled: “Quick guides to mercury from coal with focus on the challenge for Asia” (26 November 2019, Geneva).