African Regional Conference on Phasing Out Mercury-Added Products and Meeting of the Global Mercury Partnership Products Area

The Mercury in Products partnership area is meeting face-to-face in Nairobi on 26 May aimed to provide   information on the viability and availability of Minamata Convention compliant products that can and are used in place of mercury-added products; to share information on the common steps countries have often taken toward successfully phasing out/down listed mercury-added products; and to better understand the economies of scale, key drivers and other steps involved in transitioning from mercury-added products to convention compliant alternatives, including the critical role product manufacturers can play to help build momentum for this to occur.

The meeting is supported by the US Environment Protection Agency, lead of the mercury in products partnership area, and is a joint collaboration of UN Environment, European Environment Bureau (EEB) /Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) . The participants will be coming from governments in the African and Caribbean Region, from China and India, civil society, UN Environment , UNIDO, UNDP.

Prior to the mercury in products partnership meeting, the EEB and ZMWG are hosting an African Regional Conference based on lessons learned from an EEB- FAO project in Nigeria and Mauritius. The meeting will draw country roadmaps in the phasing our mercury-added products under the Minamata Convention and will disseminate the WHO guidance in the phase out of mercury containing thermometers and sphygmomanometers. The meeting is in collaboration with UN Environment and will take place on 24-25 May in Nairobi with participants also from the governments in the African region and civil society".