Minamata Convention
Context -
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a significant international agreement designed to safeguard human health and the environment against mercury's harmful effects.
Describe the Minamata Convention:
An international environmental agreement called the Minamata Convention on Mercury attempts to safeguard the environment and public health from the damaging effects of mercury and its derivatives.
- It talks about particular human actions that are causing widespread mercury contamination.
- Over the coming decades, it has been anticipated that this Convention's implementation would lessen mercury contamination.
- The agreement was signed in 2013 and became effective in 2017.
- It is an international agreement of the United Nations Environment Programme overseas (UNEP).
- One hundred nineteen countries have ratified the Convention, and 128 nations have signed it.
- India ratified the Minamata Convention in 2018 and is a party to it.
the Minamata Convention's goals are:
The Minamata Convention's goal is to "guard human health and the environment against the anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds," according to the formal definition provided under the Convention.
- The Convention includes provisions that address the whole life cycle of mercury, including controls and reductions across a variety of processes, products, and industries where mercury is used, produced, or discharged. These provisions are intended to promote this purpose.
- The Convention also includes measures for mining for mercury, exporting and importing mercury, storing mercury, and disposing of mercury.
- The Treaty also addresses topics including identifying at-risk populations, upgrading healthcare facilities, and educating medical staff to address mercury-related illnesses and disorders.
Subject Matter of the Convention:
- Mercury supply sources and trade.
- Methods used in manufacturing that involve mercury or mercury compounds.
- Products with mercury added.
- Air emissions.
- Small-scale and artisanal gold mining.
- Land and water releases.
- Wastes of mercury.
- An alternative to mercury waste is an environmentally sound temporary storage of mercury.
- factors related to health
- site contamination
History of the Minamata Convention:
As a result of the infamous Minamata Disease, originally identified in the Japanese city of Minamata, humankind has been aware of mercury's hazardous consequences since the 1950s.
- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) started a study in 2001 to evaluate many factors, including the impact of mercury and its constituents on human health.
- The UNEP Governing Council evaluated this evaluation in 2003 and determined that there was sufficient justification for states to take decisive action in this area.
- Governments launched a mercury initiative in 2005 and 2007 with the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership to lessen mercury's harmful impacts on human health and the environment.
- An international negotiating committee (INC) was created in 2009 after the UNEP drafted a legally enforceable mercury agreement.
- The INC met five times between 2010 and 2013.
- The Fifth Session ended with the adoption of the Convention. It was made available for signing for a year at a Conference of Plenipotentiaries (Diplomatic Conference) in Kumamoto, Japan.
- In 2017, Geneva hosted the inaugural gathering of the COP at the Convention.
- After the 50th nation ratified the Convention, it was enacted in August of that year.
Concerning Mercury Pollution:
The heavy metal mercury is a naturally occurring substance that may be found in water, soil, and air.
- Mercury is among the top ten substances the World Health Organization (WHO) lists as significant public health concerns.
- Mercury exposure may be poisonous and negatively affect one's health, even in minute doses.
- The immunological, neurological, and digestive systems are all impacted by mercury. Additionally, it affects the kidneys, lungs, eyes, skin, and other organs.
- The brain damage victims cannot be repaired, and they may experience memory loss or language difficulty.
- Since even small levels of elemental mercury can negatively affect health, there is no established safe exposure limit for people.
- The most susceptible groups to the negative effects of mercury include children, newborns, and foetuses.
- Because mercury is easily transmitted around the planet by the environment, its harmful effects can be felt even in remote areas.
Why does mercury exist in the environment?
- Natural events like the weathering of rocks, volcanic eruptions, geothermal activity, forest fires, etc., release mercury into the atmosphere.
- In addition to these natural processes, human activity also releases mercury. Mercury has been utilized for various applications for hundreds of years due to its numerous special qualities.
- Mercury is a persistent substance that may move between the air, water, and soil once discharged into the environment. Methylmercury is formed when mercury penetrates living things and accumulates up the food chain.
The disease of Minamata:
- Methylmercury was discharged as part of the industrial effluent from a chemical facility in Minamata, Japan. Between 1932 and 1968, this occurred for a few decades.
- The fish and shellfish in Minamata Bay and the Yatsushiro Sea were bio-accumulating and biomagnifying methylmercury, a deadly toxin (also called the Shiranui Sea).
- As a result, the local inhabitants who consumed this fish became poisoned with mercury.
India and the Minamata Convention:
In 2018, India ratified the Convention.
- In order to safeguard human health and the environment against anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds, the Convention will be put into practice within the framework of sustainable development.
- The Convention will motivate Indian businesses to switch to mercury-free goods and non-mercury production techniques.
- The Convention also prohibits using mercury in Siddha, Unani, and Ayurvedic medicines.
