- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on February 7, 2018 approved the proposal for ratification of ‘Minamata Convention on Mercury’ and depositing the instrument of ratification enabling India to become a Party of the Convention.
- The approval entails Ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury along with flexibility for continued use of mercury-based products and processes involving mercury compound up to 2025.
- The Minamata Convention on Mercury will be implemented in the context of sustainable development with the objective to protect human health and environment from the anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
About the Minamata Convention on Mercury
- The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a world treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. The Convention is named after the Japanese city Minamata which went through a devastating incident of mercury poisoning.
- It was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on mercury in Geneva, Switzerland on 19 January 2013 and adopted on 10 October 2013 at a Diplomatic Conference (Conference of Plenipotentiaries), held in Kumamoto, Japan.
- It came into effect on 16 August, 2017.
- It is a global, legally binding treaty.
- So far 128 countries have signed and 88 have ratified the convention.
- India has signed it on 30 September 2014.
- India’s Ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC), is the nodal department for the convention.
- The Convention bans new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones, the phase out and phase down of mercury use in a number of products and processes, control measures on emissions to air and on releases to land and water, and the regulation of the informal sector of artisanal and small-scale gold mining. The Convention also addresses interim storage of mercury and its disposal once it becomes waste, sites contaminated by mercury as well as health issues
- The Convention provides controls over a myriad of products containing mercury, the manufacture, import and export of which will be altogether prohibited by 2020, except where countries have requested an exemption for an initial five-ear period.
- The Convention protects the most vulnerable from the harmful effects of mercury and also protects the developmental space of developing countries. Therefore, the interest of the poor and vulnerable groups will be protected.
- -The Minamata Convention on Mercury will further urge enterprises to move to mercury-free alternatives in products and non-mercury technologies in manufacturing processes. This will drive research & development, and promote innovation.
About Mercury
-
- Mercury is one of the most toxic metals known. Once released into environment, mercury bio-accumulates and bio-magnifies up in the food chain, and easily enters the human body and impacts the nervous system. The treaty aims at protecting human health and the environment from its adverse effects.
