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Indonesia to focus on addressing unresolved issues as COP4 Minamata Convention host
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Miners pan for gold in a stream near Korowai, Papua province, on July 7, 2020. The government has banned illegal gold mining in Indonesia since 2020 as part of its effort to limit the use of mercury, but acknowledges that some small-scale miners are still in operation. (AFP/ Efert Abubar )
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s the host of the fourth Conference of the Parties (COP4) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, Indonesia is aiming to lead parties to the convention to come into agreement on some issues left unresolved in the previous conference, COP4 president Rosa Vivien Ratnawati said.
The parties’ delegation is set to convene in Nusa Dua, Bali in a five-day conference after more than a year’s delay due to the pandemic. The in-person conference – the first time that parties to the conference will gather outside of Geneva, Switzerland, which hosted the first three conferences – was preceded by online sessions that were held between Nov. 1 and 5 last year.
Two substantive issues that are set to be discussed at COP4 are the reviews of Annexes A and B of the Minamata Convention, which lists products that use mercury and manufacturing processes in which mercury or mercury compounds are used, as well as effectiveness evaluation of the convention.
The effectiveness evaluation was a key criterion to assess the main goal of the Minamata Convention, namely to restrict, and in some instances, completely ban, the use of mercury in products and manufacturing processes, said Rosa.
“There are still differences in opinions between developed and developing countries. The developed countries want to use detailed data and criteria [to assess the convention’s implementation], while some developing countries still have reservations,” Rosa, who is also the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s waste management director general, said on Friday.
“As the host of COP4, Indonesia has the opportunity to bridge such differences.”
In addition to the two issues, Indonesia is also seeking support from parties to the convention to endorse the Bali Declaration on Combating Illegal Trade of Mercury. The non-binding declaration is set to be announced on Monday.
