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As COP4 Minamata Convention ends, countries agree to further phase out mercury
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Environment and Forestry Ministry general director of waste management Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, who was also the president of the fourth Conference of Parties (COP4) Minamata Convention on Mercury, chairs the plenary session of the conference at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, Nusa Dua, Bali, on March 25. (Courtesy of Environment and Forestry Ministry/-)
P
arties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury have agreed to expand the list of mercury-added products to be phased out and to take the first step toward evaluating the effectiveness of the convention as the fourth Conference of Parties (COP4) concluded over the weekend.
COP4, which was held in Nusa Dua, Bali, on March 21-25, was the first such conference held outside of Geneva, Switzerland. It was preceded by online sessions conducted in November last year.
Intense negotiations extended the conference’s plenary session by a day, delaying its conclusion to Saturday, when parties failed to agree on the details of the institutional make-up of an international group tasked with evaluating the Minamata Convention.
The convention, which was signed in 2013 and entered into force four years later, aims to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury contamination. It was named after a city in Japan where it became an epicenter of the Minamata disease, a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning, in the 1950s.
Key outcome
During COP4, parties to the convention agreed to add 10 mercury-added products to be phased out in the near future. These include compact fluorescent lamps, cold cathode fluorescent lamps, as well as propellants for satellites.
The parties, however, failed to strike an agreement on four mercury-added products, which would need to be further discussed in the next conference.
