2nd GMOS-Train Webinar: “Introduction to Minamata Convention on Mercury” by Mr Eisaku Toda, Senior Programme Officer of the Minamata Convention on Mercury (UNEP), on Monday, March 15th at 12 PM (CET).
Mr Eisaku Toda, Senior Programme Officer of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, will present the history, content, implementation status and future direction of the Convention.
Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted in a diplomatic conference held in Kumamoto, Japan in October 2013, and entered into force in August 2017. It was named after Minamata Bay in southern Japan where thousands of people suffered from methylmercury poisoning due to effluents from an acetaldehyde plant. It controls the whole life cycle of mercury from primary mining, other supply sources, trade, use in products and processes, artisanal and small scale gold mining, emissions, releases, storage, waste disposal and contaminated sites. It also has provisions of health aspects, information sharing, awareness, research and monitoring. The Conference of the Parties (COP), the decision-making body of the Convention, is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Convention periodically starting six years after the entry into force of the Convention, using available information including monitoring data. COP at its third meeting in November 2019 requested the Secretariat to work on several intersessional work items to prepare for its fourth meeting to be held in November 2021, including indicators and monitoring guidance for the Convention.
The online lecture will last for maximum 90 minutes, followed by discussion.
After the session Prof Noelle E. Selin from MIT will provide the PhD students with short introduction to a Mercury Game and group assignments (http://mercurygame.scripts.mit.edu/game/ )
For environmental studies students, the mercury simulation demonstrates how scientific uncertainty can affect decision-making. Using the mercury game as an educational tool allows students to learn about complex interactions between science and society and develop communication skills.
At this opportunity the students will receive all the required instructions and literature to play the interactive game with Prof Selin on Monday, March 22nd. You will receive an additional zoom invitation for this event.
It should be noted that this training will provide an opportunity for all ESRs to attend the COP5 meeting scheduled for 2023. In cooperation with all beneficiaries and ESRs, special scientific meetings will be organized where all ESRs will have an opportunity to follow the political decision-making process in the field of research that is the subject of your doctoral dissertations. As an example, you may visit the COP3 process on the website: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Minmata+Convnetion+COP3
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86759044783
Meeting ID: 867 5904 4783
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kd1zZEgXWi
The webinar will be recorded.
Having your cameras on is desirable for better interactivity.
Attendance at webinar is obligatory for all GMOS-Train ESRs. The attendance of young researchers from JSI’s O-2 department is recommended, but not mandatory.
More about the lecturers:
References:
- Toda E, ten Have C and Pacyna J (2020) “The Minamata Convention – A tool for global regulation of mercury pollution” https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ci-2020-0403/html
- Convention’s website on intersessional work: http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Meetings/Intersessionalwork/tabid/8279/language/en-US/Default.aspx
- Zero draft of the monitoring guidance: http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Portals/11/documents/meetings/COP4/submissions/MonitoringGuidanceZeroDraft2021FEB25.pdf
- Global Mercury Assessment 2018: https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/global-mercury-assessment-2018
- UNEP Global Mercury Partnership: https://web.unep.org/globalmercurypartnership/
- Selin, H., Keane, S.E., Wang, S. et al. Linking science and policy to support the implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Ambio 47, 198–215 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-1003-x