Minamata Convention: time to act!
Soon, Ukraine will join the Minamata Convention and establish clear "rules of the game" for liquid toxic metal. This will give impetus to the implementation of breakthrough measures in the field of hazardous waste management, specifically mercury.
To date, the Minamata Convention on Mercury has been signed by 128 and ratified by 123 countries. Ukraine is one of the few countries that are in the process of acceding to the convention.
WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT?
The provisions of the convention are aimed at protecting human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions of mercury and its compounds. In particular, on the gradual prohibition of the production of some mercury-containing devices, as well as the mandatory cessation of its extraction.
First of all, this concerns the prohibition of the use of mercury and fluorescent lamps and their replacement with new generation lamps - LED, non-electronic measuring devices (including thermometers and barometers), some medical preparations.
Exceptions are established for certain products that do not have environmentally safe analogues.
Separately, the convention regulates the issue of hazardous waste management, namely the prevention of its formation.
Therefore, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine has prepared a draft Law of Ukraine "On Ukraine's Accession to the Minamata Convention on Mercury", which has already been sent for approval to interested central executive bodies.
The bill will allow to regulate issues of:
- mercury management and extraction;
- prevention of hazardous waste generation;
- business activities related to the use of mercury;
- restriction or cessation of circulation of mercury-containing products. Ukraine will gradually:
- abandon the use of mercury and its compounds;
- prohibit the creation of new and, by 2032, the operation of existing primary mercury mining enterprises;
- from 2020, establish prohibitions on the production, import, and export of mercury-containing products;
- regulate the "rules of the game" for the formation and accumulation of Class I hazardous waste;
- ensure control and reduction of mercury and its compounds emissions and discharges.
Accession to the convention will be another plus for Ukraine's unity with the progressive international community and attracting financial assistance from European funds.
FOR REFERENCE
The Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted in 2013 and named after the city of Minamata in Japan, where in the late 1950s, almost 2,000 people were poisoned by mercury contained in industrial wastewater, many of whom died. The poisoning caused Minamata disease - a syndrome of impaired vision and hearing, and in severe cases - paralysis and impaired consciousness, the cause of which is poisoning by organic mercury compounds.
More detailed information about the Minamata Convention can be found in the Convention booklet, which can be downloaded in 6 official UN languages at the link: https://cutt.ly/rfq4nQg