At #MinamataCOP4, discussion took place about mercury-added products, and you’d be shocked to know just how prevalent this is.

Let’s start with lights. Mercury has been used in lightbulbs for a long time, most recently in compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). CFLs are widely used because they are energy efficient and have a long life span. They only contain a small amount of mercury but this is still toxic, and special precautions have to be made if lamps get broken or need to be disposed of.

Then there are cosmetics. Mercury in cosmetics exists in two forms: inorganic mercury, used in skin lightening creams and soaps, and organic mercury compounds, used in eye makeup (including mascara) and make-up cleaning products. These forms of mercury differ in their degree of toxicity and have varying effects on human health, but the issue is a big one. The skin lightening industry is one of the fastest growing beauty industries worldwide with an estimated worth of $31.2 billion by 2024. In India, the industry accounts for 50% of the skincare market, with similar trends in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Convention limits mercury use to 1ppm, and while many countries have banned it, the over-saturated skincare market makes it difficult to fully monitor. Do yourself a favour – check the ingredients list of the product you’re buying and make sure you’re not inadvertently poisoning yourself.

And then there is dentistry. Dental amalgam is most commonly used as a filler for cavities and contains liquid mercury, among other metals. When amalgam fillings are placed in or removed from teeth, they can release a small amount of mercury vapour - sometimes even when chewing. People can absorb these vapours, leading to health concerns. It’s a controversial issue in the dentistry world but also an important one, which is why many dentists advocate for it to be banned globally.

Scary, right? There’s so much we don’t know about, so much we need to learn, and so many better decisions we need to make. For more info on today: https://enb.iisd.org/Minamata-Convention-Mercury-COP4-2/23Mar22

#MakeMercuryHistory #mercury #CFLs #skincare #dentistry #onassignment #stories #livingfiercely

At #MinamataCOP4, one of the main discussions is artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). Mercury is a naturally occurring element and is typically released through the weathering of rock that contains mercury ore. But increasing, mercury is being released due to human activities, most especially, ASGM.

ASGM is essentially gold mining conducted by individuals or small enterprises with limited capital investment and production, and mercury is used to extract gold from ore or sediments. The mixture of mercury and gold, known as amalgam, is heated so that the mercury is vapourised, leaving the gold behind. The vapour is toxic, and it is estimated that ASGM releases 2000 tonnes of mercury into the environment annually.

But ASGM is also an important form of employment and development. There are more than 15 million miners working in the ASGM sector, of which 4-5 million are women and children, spread across 80 countries. They account for up to 20% of all the world’s gold production, with an estimated value of $28 billion.

This poses a complex development issue. ASGM is a critical livelihood for millions of people (mostly poor), is largely informal and unregulated, and with few income generating alternatives available, it cannot simply be eliminated. Rather, efforts is needed to encourage gold extraction techniques without mercury, and that have less negative environmental and social impacts.

To put this into motion, signatories of the #MinamataConvention, and those most affected by ASGM, have to explain how they are going to address this within their own country, developing national action plans complete with objectives and targets, detailing their activities and strategies to reduce the use of mercury.

That’s one of the things discussed at COP4 – the details of how to manage this issue, how to monitor and evaluate the national action plans, and how to set better practices in motion. It’s a complex issue but for more information, check out our ENB coverage: https://enb.iisd.org/Minamata-Convention-Mercury-COP4-2/22Mar22

#MakeMercuryHistory #mercury #chemicalsmanagement #ASGM #mining #gold #development #bali #onassignment #stories #livingfiercely

On the first day of #MinamataCOP4 in #Bali, proceedings began with a beautiful traditional performance of the ‘frangipani dance’. Delegates then got into the thick of the negotiations but before we start unpacking what was discussed at COP4, I thought it might be useful to unpack the Minamata Convention itself.

The Minamata Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement that addresses specific human activities contributing to widespread mercury pollution. The Convention covers the entire life cycle of mercury – from production to waste – and sets ambitious objectives that could rapidly effect the supply of and demand for mercury.

Specifically, the Convention aims to:
• Reduce and eliminate the use and release of mercury from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM);
• Control mercury air emissions from coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, certain metals production operations, waste incineration and cement production;
• Phase-out measures to reduce mercury use in products, including batteries, switches, lights, cosmetics, pesticides, and dental amalgam;
• Phase-out the use of mercury in manufacturing processes;
• Address the supply and trade of mercury, including safer storage and disposal, and strategies to address contaminated sites; and
• Provide technical assistance, information exchange, public awareness, and research and monitoring, with periodical evaluations to assess its effectiveness.

It’s pretty complicated, but at COP4 we had some main points under discussion: proposed amendments to Annex A (mercury-added products) and B (manufacturing processes in which mercury or mercury compounds are used); the effectiveness evaluation; and an informal agreement on a declaration regarding illegal mercury trade; and of course, finance.

The discussions were technical in nature, but I’ll unpack some of the issues to help you understand what’s really going on and why it’s important. In the meantime, be sure to check out our daily coverage at: https://enb.iisd.org/Minamata-Convention-Mercury-COP4-2/21Mar22

#MakeMercuryHistory #MinamataConvention #mercury #UNEP #chemicalsmanagement #globalnegotiations #onassignment #stories #livingfiercely

Hello everyone! So great to be part of this group. I'm a photographer and storyteller documenting various elements of the sustainability movement, and use stories as a way of building awareness and understanding.

In March 2022, I was on assignment for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) in Bali, Indonesia, covering COP4 of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, one of the most recent global agreements on the environment and health. It’s important to have a bit of background about mercury, how it’s been used and why this convention is so important.

Mercury is a curious thing. It shines like a mirror, liquid at room temperature but 13 times denser than water, its molten movement earned it the name quicksilver, and it soon became the stuff of legends – the key to alchemy and witchcraft, a potent medicine but also a deadly poison.

And this last part is important: mercury is deadly.

As a core earth element, mercury has been used for many things over the centuries: fluorescent lightbulbs, thermometers, dental amalgam, and a wide range of cosmetics. It was even used as a crop fungicide and was only identified as an industrial pollutant in the 1950s, after mercury-tainted industrial wastewater poisoned thousands of people in Japan’s Minamata Bay, leading to what is now known as ‘Minamata disease’.

Minamata disease is awful. A neurological disease, it causes numbness in the limbs, affects sight and hearing, causes tremors, impairs walking, causes brain damage, and can even affect the nervous system. It can also affect foetuses, causing severe deformities, mental retardation, deafness and blindness.

Minamata disease is serious, and that’s why the Minamata Convention was signed: a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. Since its adoption in 2017, parties have been working to control the mercury supply and trade, reduce the use, emission and release of mercury, and to essentially, #MakeMercuryHistory.

I’ll start to unpack this – what mercury is still used for, how the convention works, but for now, check out the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) coverage at: https://enb.iisd.org/Minamata-Convention-Mercury-COP4-2

#MinamataCOP4 #MinamataConvention #mercury #UNEP #chemicalsmanagement #bali #onassignment #stories #livingfiercely

For those looking for for an update on outcomes of the recently concluded Minamata COP, please see the following IISD report.

Kiara Worth - a big welcome to this group! Please share your wonderful images and posts from Minamata COP here. Many thanks!

Mercury in your body - A threat to your health