ON March 11, this year, Zambia ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury that is aimed at reducing global mercury pollution in the near future.
This, therefore, means that Zambia agrees to the principles and obligations of the Convention and the country has to work towards domesticating the Agreement.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury.
It was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on mercury in Geneva, Switzerland on January 19, 2013 and adopted later that year on October 10, 2013 at a Diplomatic Conference (Conference of Plenipotentiaries), held in Kumamoto, Japan.
The Convention draws attention to a global and ubiquitous metal that, while naturally occurring, has broad uses in everyday objects and is released to the atmosphere, soil and water from a variety of sources.
Controlling the anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its lifecycle has been a key factor in shaping the obligations under the Convention.
Major highlights of the Minamata Convention include a ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones, and phase down of mercury use in a number of products and processes.
The other highlight include control measures on emissions to air and on releases to land and water as well as the international regulation of the informal sector for artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
The Convention also addresses its interim storage and disposal once it becomes waste, sites contaminated by mercury as well as health issues.
The Convention is named after the Japanese city of Minamata, which experienced a severe, decades-long incidence of mercury poisoning after industrial wastewater from a chemical factory was discharged into Minamata Bay.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the wastewater contained methylmercury, which bioaccumulated in fish and shellfish in the bay.
Local people who consumed the seafood from Minamata Bay became ill, many died and some were left severely disabled.
Exposure to mercury threatens health, with many often irreversible toxic effects.
Developing foetuses and young children are most at risk. Mercury pollution extremely harms wildlife and ecosystems.
Mercury occurs naturally in the earth’s crust, but human activities, such as mining and fossil fuel combustion, have led to widespread global mercury pollution.
Mercury emitted into the air eventually settles into water or onto land where it can be washed into water.
Once deposited, certain microorganisms can change it into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish, shellfish and animals that eat fish.
Most human exposure to mercury is from eating fish and shellfish contaminated with methylmercury worldwide.
Almost all people in the world have at least trace amounts of methylmercury in their tissues, reflecting its pervasive presence in the environment.
Some communities eat significantly more quantities of fish than the general population, and thus may be exposed to much greater mercury contamination than the general population.
However, in 2001, the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme1 (UNEP) invited the Executive Director of UNEP to undertake a global assessment of mercury and its compounds.
This included information on the chemistry and health effects, sources, long-range transport, and prevention and control technologies relating to mercury.
In 2003, the Governing Council considered this assessment and found that there was sufficient evidence of significant global adverse impacts from mercury.
Governments were urged to adopt goals for the reduction of mercury emissions and releases and UNEP initiated technical assistance and capacity building activities to meet these goals.
The global transport of mercury in the environment was a key reason for taking the decision that global action to address the problem of mercury pollution was required.
A mercury programme to address these concerns was thus established and was further strengthened by governments in decisions of the Governing Council in 2005 and in 2007.
In the decision of 2007, the Governing Council concluded that the options of enhanced voluntary measures and new or existing international legal instruments would be reviewed and assessed in order to make progress in addressing the mercury issue.
In 2009, following extensive consideration of the issue, the Governing Council agreed that voluntary actions to date had not been sufficient to address the concerns on mercury, and decided on the need for further action on mercury, including the preparation of a global
legally binding instrument.
An intergovernmental negotiating committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on mercury was therefore established, to commence its work in 2010 and conclude negotiations prior to the twenty-seventh session of the Governing Council in 2013.
The committee was provided with a detailed mandate setting out specific issues to be covered in the text of the instrument, as well as a number of other elements to be taken into account while
negotiating the text.
In January 2013, the intergovernmental negotiating committee concluded its fifth session by agreeing on the text of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
The text was adopted by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on 10 October 2013 in Japan and was opened for signature thereafter.
The objective of the Convention is to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds and it sets out a range of measures to meet that objective.
These include measures to control the supply and trade of mercury, including setting limitations on certain specific sources of mercury such as primary mining.
Other measures are to control mercury-added products and manufacturing processes in which mercury or mercury compounds are used, as well as artisanal and small scale gold mining.
The text of the Convention includes separate articles on emissions and releases of mercury, with controls directed at reducing levels of mercury while allowing flexibility to accommodate national development plans.
In addition, it contains measures on the environmentally sound interim storage of mercury and on mercury wastes, as well as contaminated sites.
Provision is made in the text for financial and technical support to  developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and a financial mechanism for the provision of adequate, predictable and
timely financial resources is defined.
It is anticipated that coordinated implementation of the obligations of the Convention will lead to an overall reduction in mercury levels in the environment over time.
That is all for now, have a fruitful and blessed week.
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