Wheel of Knowledge

In the context of Sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity taking place next week in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November 2024, we would like to highlight how global community is advancing the agenda to reduce and eliminate mercury and associated impacts on biodiversity.

Research Brief - L'éducation et la distribution d'équipements permettent d'améliorer les connaissances sur le mercure et l'utilisation de la cornue dans les communautés d'exploitation aurifère artisanale et à petite échelle au Sénégal.

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Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a significant economic sector, employing 20 million people across 80 countries and producing up to 20% of the world's gold supply.

The Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, in collaboration with the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) and with financial support from the European Union, launches Minamata Tools, a set of interactive training modules designed to explain the Convention and assist in the fight against mercury pollution.

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is crucial to the livelihoods of close to 20 million people in over 80 countries, including 4-5 million women, mainly in rural areas with limited alternative economic prospects, particularly in developing countries.

The overarching goal of this handbook is to establish a common knowledge base on the impacts of mercury use in the artisanal mining sector on human health and the environment among all the stakeholders involved in or connected with artisanal gold mining.

The publication explores "opportunities for generating co-benefits through coherent implementation of the Minamata Convention and Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework".

Check out this infographic to learn more about how toxic mercury impacts biodiversity and human health all around the world.

From human-made sources, this highly hazardous chemical accumulates in many ecosystems, such as tropical forests, mangroves, oceans and the Arctic, leading to detrimental impacts on biodiversity.

This course explores the different forms of mercury and its compounds with their respective sources, environmental distribution, toxicological aspects, and prevention measures. In addition, it introduces the Minamata Convention and Resolution 67.11 (2014) of the World Health Assembly (WHA), and its considerations on public health aspects related to mercury.

[ French ] Dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre des projets de «Plan d’Action National (PAN) pour réduire, et si possible, éliminer l’utilisation du mercure dans l’extraction Artisanale et à Petite Echelle de l’or » en Côte d’Ivoire et au Togo en réponse aux article 7 et Annexe C de la Convention de Minamata, un

[ English - French ] This slide deck provides an overview and lessons learned from the East Africa artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) study tour conducted in Kenya with participation from 8 countries from the region, in April 2023.

Dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre des projets de « Plan d’Action National (PAN) pour réduire, et si possible, éliminer l’utilisation du mercure dans l’extraction Artisanale et à Petite Echelle de l’or » en Côte d’Ivoire et au Togo en réponse aux article 7 et Annexe C de la Convention de Minamata, un voyage d’étude a été organis

The objective of this report is to analyse, in response to decision MC-4/12, how the implementation of the Minamata Convention can contribute to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and to identify opportunities for coherent and mutually supportive implementation to generate co-benefits for the GBF and the Minamata Convention.

The Partnership Area on mercury in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining organized an information sharing session on 26 June in an online setting.

The Global Mercury Partnership organised an information sharing session on Minamata Initial Assessments (MIAs): latest trends, key findings and data analysis tools, on Tuesday 27 September 2022.

The webinar presented initial analysis of aggregated data from 74 MIA mercury inventories and explored patterns and trends in the data.

This brochure provides a brief overview on the health and environmental impacts of mercury, cyanide and silica dust in the sector. Chemical risks do not only affect miners, but also their communities. Mercury and cyanide are both highly toxic to human health. However, only mercury persists in the environment and can travel long distances.

[ English / French / Spanish ] *** UPDATED VERSION 2022 ***

The guidelines provide basic practical guidance for the environmentally sound storage, handling, and transport of liquid mercury and mercury wastes in Peru, particularly wastes consisting of used elemental mercury and mercury contaminated materials.

UNEP, GRID Geneva, 2022

Technical document on the use of remote sensing and satellite imagery in ASGM  policy development, implementation and evaluation. 

UNEP, 2021

Incorporating gender dimensions into national strategy setting in chemicals management: For Minamata Convention national action plans for artisanal and small-scale gold mining and Stockholm Convention national implementation plans

The UNEP Global Mercury Partnership and its Area of work on Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) organized on 17 June 2021 a webinar to discuss gender mainstreaming into National Action Plans (NAPs).

Researchers or other assessors should use this guide to help ministries of health develop a public health strategy as part of the ASGM NAP. The evidence collected will clarify key issues to consider for the public health strategy.

The Quick Start Guide summarizes and provides a visual overview of the key issues and recommendations for incorporating gender dimensions into National Action Plans (NAP) for artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM).

The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has conducted public health and institutional assessments on ASGM, noted key findings and recommendations, staged a discourse with stakeholders and selected key priorities for implementation. A number of recommendations at different levels of intervention, i.e.

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