UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UNEP Press conference: Minamata Convention on Mercury

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for this press conference organised by the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

We are here today to share with you the key outcomes of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention or COP Six that took place last week here in Geneva.

Over 1000 participant joined in person and around 4000 viewers follow the proceedings online through the week.

The discussions were productive, inclusive and forward-looking, resulting in 22 decisions for further protect human health and the environment from mercury pollution.

And they like to be joined today by Miss Monica Stankiewicz, our Executive Secretary, Miss Brenda Kukuk, Senior Coordination Officer and Miss Lara Onivene, Legal Officer.

They will each highlight major outcomes adopted by COP 6.

So with further delay, I hand the floor to our Executive Secretary.

Over to your Monica.

Thank you so much, Anna, and good day, everyone.

I'm very pleased to be reporting to you the outcomes of our COP 6.

And I would like to start by saying that the negotiations were very smooth, the meeting was well organised and allowing delegates to finish the meeting on time, something which is nowadays quite rare.

So we are happy.

We also were able to provide the healthy working conditions to all delegates who didn't really need to stay during night to negotiate.

However, of course, all efforts were made to try to reach best outcomes possible.

One issue I would like to highlight before I go into the substantive details is that at this COP we have had broaden participation of indigenous peoples, women and youth.

There were many more participants from these groups and also from various regions around the world.

We were very pleased to hear the that upon initiative of Indigenous peoples, International Indigenous Peoples Platform on Mercury was established, which is very much welcomed by COP and by the secretariat.

And also we, we launched a women's caucus for the Minamata Convention at this COP and also I received a youth declaration from more than 30 youth participants at our COP, which we will take into account in preparing for the next conference of the parties.

And lastly, there, there there is a new president for Minamata Convention who will preside over COP 7 in June 2027 and it's Marie Claire Lynne Leelandry from France.

Let me now go directly into some substantive outcomes.

The the the major outcome is the agreement to phase out the the the manufacture, import and export of dental amalgam by 2034.

The the use of dental amalgam poses several challenges including exposure to mercury of dental practitioners.

Also the cost relaying challenges related to disposal of dental amalgam and also mercury emissions from crematoria.

Another challenge is that simply there is one more use of the of mercury and therefore mercury is still part of our economy.

So we are very pleased with this decision.

The issue of dental amalgam has been discussed also in the past two cops.

So it's a third cop that the parties have been negotiating the matter.

And then each of the cops, certain measures were adopted to to dramatically reduce the use of dental amalgam.

So the convention already includes a number of measures that restrict the use.

However, we are especially pleased to have now agreement to amend the Convention also to phase phase out the manufacture, import and manufacture, import and export of dental amalgam, which is much more easy to enforce than the use of dental amalgam.

The Secretariat has also been requested to prepare a guidance to Parties for those who are still on their way to phasing out dental amalgam to to help them to prepare a national action plan.

So as a follow up of this decision, the Secretariat will be tracking the progress and reporting to the Conference of the Parties on that matter.

Another outcome is related to mercury using cosmetics.

There is a global convention ban on on adding mercury to any cosmetics.

However, they are still being illegally produced and offered for sale, especially on online markets.

So parties have looked into how to strengthen collaboration to be more effective in enforcing this global ban.

And here there are several activities that will be that have been mandated by the conference of the parties to be carried out.

So the matter would then be reported to the next Cop.

And some of those activities are to investigate a mechanism for supporting enforcement and identification of presence of mercury in cosmetics, including equipment analysis and sampling.

Also to collect information from parties on day particular challenges to prevent manufacture, import and export of mercury added cosmetics.

And also for Secretariat to work with the World Custom Organisation, Interpol and other relevant international organisation with expertise in the illegal trade to investigate major sources of manufacturing, import and export of such products.

And also to for Secretary to receive proposals from those organisations.

What can we do about it for consideration by the next COP?

And the third cluster of activities is related to the World Health Organisation with whom we will continue collaborating.

And one specific request to world or invitation to World Health Organisation is to prepare an illustrative national public health system wide strategy focusing on on measures to prevent the use of manufacturing import export of mercury added cosmetics.

So then it could be then used domestically by parties and also on that basis prepare appropriate documentation to our COP in 2027.

So let me stop on these two technical items and hand over to my colleague Lara to brief you on outcomes related to trade.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Monica.

So, to tackle the supply and trade of mercury, the Corp adopted a decision updating the guidance on identifying stocks of mercury and mercury compounds and also the guidance on the use of trade forms, while requesting the Secretariat to develop strategies to address illegal supply and trade of mercury and to prepare guidance for a consistent use of harmonised system codes for mercury containing goods.

Furthermore, the decision requests that the Implementation and Compliance Committee review challenges in the implementation of trade related obligations and consider possible recommendations to COP 7 on this matter.

To complement this work, a separate decision on mercury compounds recognises the need to further understand the current global supply, trade and use of specific mercury compounds.

It invites Parties and stakeholders to share relevant information with the Secretariat, and it also establishes an open-ended expert group to advance technical discussions ahead of COP 7.

In view of the possible adoption of an additional annex that would make specific mercury compounds subject to the prior informed consent procedure now applying only to elemental mercury, and I hand over to Brenda to continue.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much, Lara.

I will now speak to artisanal and small scale gold mining.

So the cops strengthened its commitment to addressing the challenges of artisanal and small scale gold mining, otherwise referred to as ASGM through acknowledging the need for address just transition for miners.

So this is supporting fair, inclusive and sustainable alternatives with historically high gold prices.

In recent months this is particularly relevant.

Parties also adopted amendments to the guidance on national action plans for artisanal and small scale gold mining under Article 7 of the Convention and national AG plans are action plans are illegally binding obligation under the Convention for those parties that have determined mercury use in small scale gold mining to be more than insignificant in their country.

So within them parties are obliged to establish national reduction targets and take steps to eliminate mercury.

So the amendments to the Guidance represent a meaningful advancement in guiding implementation for the parties using the parties that are using mercury in small scale gold mining.

Specifically, this will facilitate Parties to review and strengthen their national reduction or phase out targets for mercury use.

Furthermore, the COP requested the Secretariat to develop a report for COP 7 to explore how supply chain transparency and certification mechanisms can reduce mercury use and enhance accountability among buyers and intermediaries across the gold trade.

Finally, the COP encouraged Parties and stakeholders to implement a road map developed for enhancing Co benefits for the Minamata Convention and the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

This also included integrating actions to reduce mercury pollution from small scale gold mining into national biodiversity strategies.

And this will be a particularly important in areas such as the Amazon and other forest biomes throughout the world.

Next, I'll just move to the financial mechanism.

The COP welcomed the ongoing 9th replenishment process for the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund and highlighted the importance of the the 9th replenishment for Parties for the period of 2026 to 2030 and meeting their obligations on time.

The Cop also requested the Global Environment Facility to add a number of activities to the list of activities to implement the provisions of the Convention, including updating their minamata, initial assessments and the monitoring of human exposure to mercury and environmental concentrations of mercury and recalls.

The importance of providing support to address dental amalgam.

With the new amendment, a decision on the extension of the second component of the financial mechanism, which is the specific international programme, will take place in in 2027.

So just looking ahead, COP 7, as Monica mentioned, will take place in Geneva in June 2027 from the 14th to the 18th of June.

The next presidency will be Marie Claire Larry of France, who will lead parties in the next phase.

And the Secretariat really looks forward to working with the presidency and moving to COP 7.

And on a final note, 2027 will mark the 10 year anniversary of entry into force of the convention.

And the first effectiveness evaluation of the Minamata Convention will be considered at COP 7 in 2027.

And we see that the 10 year anniversary will be a key milestone to really assess global progress of the convention's impact.

So thank you very much and over to you, Anna.

Thank you, Brenda, Monica and Lara for these overviews.

I will now open the floor for questions.

We will start with the journalist in the room.

And please before you raise your question, say your name and, and, and say the media outlet.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you Robin Millard from AFP news agency on on dental amalgam in in practical terms, what will this actually mean for for dentistry?

What will what will have to change for both dentists and and possibly for patients as well?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you so much for your question.

We already know that there are many parties around the world around maybe 50 or more that have already faced that has already, they basically ban, they or don't, don't support in ban or do not support through their policies the use of dental amalgam in patients.

In reality, many patients do not choose dental amalgam for the treatment.

They prefer other alternatives.

So even in countries who have not phased out the use of dental amalgam, it's use is really decreasing and it's often marginal.

So this ban that has now been agreed to be enforced, 2020, 34 will be the final stage of many years of measures to actually not use dental amalgam at all as I see the addition.

So we are basically already on the way on phasing it out.

In practise, there are still some parties who may use dental amalgam in certain circumstances, for example, military or it may be used if there are some circumstances that may justify it from technical point of view or simply they policies, especially policies for insurance have not been adjusted yet to give equal treatment to dental amalgam and alternatives.

This often plays a big role.

So I would say that for me the biggest change is now that with this ban, we will have a point in time where custom officers can establish that dental amalgam is no longer to be traded and therefore we can then assure that it's not diverted to other users.

The convention has already made one amendment.

There was parties made already one amendment to the convention to forbid the the trade of or you trade of dental amalgam in bulk form because in that form is the IT is the most easily, it can be most easily diverted to other uses such as SGM.

So it's only allowed to be traded in capsules.

That's already I think very practical step to better control.

However this this final ban would make it clear that no longer dental amalgam is traded to be traded at all, and therefore it will be much easier to ensure it doesn't get used where it's not supported.

The mercury is not used for other purposes where it's not allowed.

[Other language spoken]

Do you have any follow up questions?

[Other language spoken]

OK, then let's move to the questions online.

Please use the function in Zoom.

Raise your hand so I can see who has a question and we'll open your mic.

I can see a hand from Alicia Edgar from Athen TFs.

[Other language spoken]

The first one was what?

What are the the specific measures that the indigenous.

[Other language spoken]

Have proposed or how they have participated in this scope?

And the other question was you mentioned for transition for minors, for gold, small scale minors.

So I wanted to ask how this is going to happen?

What are the concrete measures?

[Other language spoken]

Alright, thank you so much.

I will start to your question on Indigenous peoples.

So we are very pleased to see we there, there were more than 30 Indigenous peoples participating in our COP from different groups and from different regions.

And I would like to express my appreciation to Finland as well as the Global Environment Facility Secretariat for providing funding to some of those delegates.

One major milestone I think is that for the first time in the Minamata Convention in relation to one of the agenda items and that is on engagement of Indigenous peoples, the President allowed Indigenous Peoples representative to speak first before he opened the floor for parties in intervention.

This agenda item and the proposal that the Secretary had put forward, this signifies the recognition by parties that engagement of Indigenous peoples and also local communities is important for the success of this convention and the willingness to and openness to engage Indigenous peoples in hear the views.

Another, maybe more from the backstage development information I would like to present, is that when there was a decision on Indigenous peoples being discussed, the President established a small group of parties who expressed views on this matter and also invited representatives of Indigenous peoples to sit together with parties around the same table and to further develop this proposal that eventually was adopted.

From many interventions from parties we have heard, we heard during the COP on various agenda items, it is clear that the use of mercury in artisanal small scale gold mining is the most pressing matter for Indigenous peoples in Amazon, but not only in Amazon.

And another important matter is not to consider indigenous peoples and local community and as any uniform group which are on our which is not the case in our convention.

Under Minamata Convention, indigenous peoples and local communities are two separate groups with their separate needs.

Understanding that Indigenous peoples are rights holders and they are often in many national legislation have a have a special right.

So let me stop here and hand over to Brenda for your second question.

Thank you for the question about the acknowledgement of the just transition.

So in terms of concrete work items under this decision.

I just wish to highlight that the just transition was acknowledged in a pre ambular paragraph of the decision, recognising the importance of ensuring a just transition for communities, particularly those in vulnerable situations, when transitioning from mercury in artisanal and small scale gold mining.

At the moment there is no specific work programme assigned, but this does empower countries who are have the mandatory obligation to develop national action plans under the Convention to consider measures of how they would look at the just transition in their national action plans that are required under Article 7 and look at that in terms of how they incorporate them into their plans.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Monica, Brenda, Alythia, do you have any follow up question on these matters?

If if not, we will move on to the next question from Jamie Keaton.

If you can, could also mention the media outlet please and go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

I'm with Associated Press.

My question is for Brenda.

We ran a story on Friday about how indigenous groups and environmental groups are very frustrated about the outcomes, particularly with the use of mercury and gold mining.

What do you say to them?

They say that, you know, mercury should be halted altogether in the use of gold and the use of mercury should be halted altogether in the use of of gold mining and is polluting and rendering toxic in particular the Amazon rainforest.

So I mean, is this just a question of how the power of industry and the power of the gold market, which is soaring really high right now, is just too much for these indigenous groups and that their interests are being brushed aside by by powerful economic interests.

And sorry.

And if I could just add, while I have you, what alternatives are there to mercury?

I mean, there's nobody out exploring any alternatives to the use of mercury in gold mining so that this toxic chemical can not be used in in in this process.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Jamie for the question.

As mentioned, parties adopted amendments to the guidance on developing national action plans for artisanal and small scale gold mining.

And just to note that these action plans are mandatory for parties under Article 7 and an exceeded the convention provides guidance on how the action plans are to be developed.

Each party is subject to develop objectives, national objectives and reduction targets.

And there are specific measures for them to eliminate certain actions using mercury in small scale gold mining.

So those being eliminating whole or amalgamation, open burning of amalgam or processed amalgam, burning of amalgam in residential areas and cyanide leaching and sediment or tailings.

So these are this is mandatory for parties.

But this amendment to the guidance does represent a meaningful advancement in implementation of the convention.

So it's specifically enables parties to review and strengthen their reduction or phase out targets for mercury use in small scale gold mining.

It also supports more tailored national actions reflecting the diverse realities and capacities of parties.

It provides A framework for continuous improvement, allowing countries to adapt their strategies based on evolving community needs as well as evolving science.

And finally, I just say that some of the actions we've seen at this COP, so of phase out of mercury amalgam, etcetera do play a role in restricting diversion of mercury trade flows as Monica mentioned to the small scale gold mining section sector and should help see improvements in this sector.

I don't know if Monica, if you want to add anything.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, thank you so much.

And maybe I will add a bit on the technology that there is a technology which is, which always have to be adapted depending on what is the grade of the OR what's the, the, the rock or sediment to work with as a miner.

So no, no, no technology that fits all circumstances, but technologies are being developed and and also there is a sometimes cyanide used which is effective in extracting gold from ore.

However it has to be since this is a hazardous chemical, it has to be also handled with care.

The take up of these technologies often limited by the fact that the artisanal's most gold mining is an informal sector.

So it's difficult for miners to attract funding or or to operate as any other formal entity and have access also to formal markets to sell the gold.

And that's, that's also.

So the technology is being developed.

It take up is limited sometimes due to lack of even access to even small investments to, to have it adopted.

And we have several major projects funded by Jeff, which is the part of the financial mechanism of the convention across across the world to to work on those issues.

And, and for this and also other reasons, the focus of the convention is on formalisation and, and of course the convention probably will, based on the experiences gained, evolve, but until since the beginning.

And still, I think it's a valid point that the parties do not want to ban the use of mercury because it's while it may sound like a viable solution, we see many countries around the world already banning in the national legislation the use of HGM and that doesn't necessarily lead to an improvement situation.

It then means that those miners who they become, they, they become criminals and they no longer can be reached out to, to be able to raise awareness or to offer this alternative technologies.

Having said, I have told to recognise that in many places in Amazon there is a specific emergency in crisis in that sense that their illegal mining is encroaching in the lens of indigenous people.

So it's a matter of really enforcing enforcement and often these activities are related to other criminal activities related to narcotics, sex trafficking.

So it's different, different circumstances.

But I wouldn't at this stage say that the strike Jack and Ben and having it just in legislation has so far proved to work better.

I think the, the issue is now to try to address the flow of mercury into SGM and enhance collaboration among parties and offer alternative livelihoods for those communities who, who are informal, not illegal, and also to support strong formalisation processes for minors so they can be properly regulated and impact of the activities minimal minimised.

And then lastly, we're, we're this is a, a problem to have a strong enforcement collaboration for organisations such as Interpol and, and others.

So that's currently the strategy.

And also to say that for any ban of mercury use in HGM to be included in the convention, according to the procedures we have in place, such a proposal needs to be they made by parties six months in advance of the COP.

No such a proposal was made to this COP.

However, I'm sure all support are carefully listening to the voices of those who are suffering from this crisis, especially illegal mining in Amazon and also expertise of NGOs.

So let's see how the situation evolves and is addressed moving forward.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Monica and Brenda, I can see that Jamie has still his hand up, so please go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

I'm afraid my question wasn't really answered.

It's about it was partially about the issue of the, the power of the gold industry in preventing any tighter regulations or any stronger accords particularly with the price of gold so high.

So could you please answer that?

And I also had mentioned, you know, in my question earlier about how environmental groups are very concerned about the situation that the, the, the, the agreements are coming out of last week.

[Other language spoken]

I have we have a quote from a person from IPEN, which is the International Pollution Network elimination Network that you're aware of who said, you know, the cop fiddled this week while Rome Bird that small adjustments were made to minor issues while delegates failed to confront the mercury pollution crisis in the Amazon.

So what do you say to that?

I mean, is that accurate?

I mean, speak directly to that, that claim that that that not enough is being done and and please thank you.

[Other language spoken]

On the issue of gold industry, I, I would say that many parties or countries are concerned about illegal gold mining because they miss their revenue from gold being sold.

So many countries, I would say they, they would, they, they are working to formalise the sector, eliminate illegal gold mining and simply have a revenue out of it.

So this is perhaps more a question of being able to collaborate with every every actor in the value chain of gold more than Speaking of the gold industry as such.

Just also clarify, we are talking about not large scale gold mining industry which is regulated and have environmental safeguards in place as required by different national legislation.

We are talking about artisanal small gold, gold mining, which is often informal, sometimes in illegal.

So with the use of mercury and they can become a miner within a day.

It's very, it's relatively simple and straightforward.

And that would be people who would be mining often in remote locations.

So enforcement is really a challenge and it's a very complicated matter.

But again, to say, at least at this conference of the parties, I didn't see any strong voices or, or any dynamics about the the the, the gold industry as such, but but the issue had to effectively address it.

And regarding indigenous peoples and the, and the emergency in crisis that is currently taking play in, in Amazon, we have also from secretariat side, organise a number of events, including the projection of the documentary from Brazil depicting or showing the this exact crisis.

So also to raise awareness and reach out as to many delegates as possible to ensure that this matter is prioritised.

And then we look into the entire life cycle of mercury too as as a solution.

So my colleague already mentioned the trade is an is an important element that needs to be addressed and is being addressed because eventually the the question is where Mercury comes from.

But on the element of value chains and what has been what was decided by the parties, I will hand over to Brenda to to finalise.

[Other language spoken]

So in terms of what was decided at this COP, I think we did see some advancement and that this will help inform COP 7 further on the matter.

For example, parties were encouraged to adopt or strengthen environmentally sound management of gold supply chains and measures to identify buyers and intermediaries and make them more responsible in the life cycle of supply chains.

So with an additional view to discourage mercury use and illicit gold trade, parties also were encouraged to consider developing or improving data, open data practises throughout the gold supply chain.

So this would make relevant information publicly available.

And then finally, the Secretariat was requested to compile a comparative experiences on supply chain transparency and certification and how such practises could impact the use of mercury and ASGM and could enhance accountability of buyers and intermediaries.

So this report will be on the table at COP 7 and will help provide information for parties to make further considerations of this in moving forward.

[Other language spoken]

And Brenda can see now another hand from John Halperin from RT News.

[Other language spoken]

This is John Halperin from ERET News.

When I covered the formation of the treaty in 2013, officials were saying that it could eliminate within 3 decades the commercial use of mercury in in most most commercial applications.

And then Achim Steiner, who was then head of the UN Environment Programme, said that it could accomplish its aim of curbing harmful admissions of mercury anywhere from about 2025 to 2050.

So I'm wondering, can you give us an assessment of where things stand in that time frame of hope for achievements now, and then what you hope or think it will be in 2027 at the next conference?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you so much, John for the question.

And a bit of a background about the historic evolution of the convention and of the that was involved in the process.

You, you're probably aware the convention is designed around the life cycle of mercury and, and the thinking is that we need to reduce demand for mercury and therefore and also address it's supply.

So I, I would say we see the first elements of that strategy working by parties over the last couple of cops adding amending the convention to make sure that all known products using mercury are listed for phase out and then also working on phasing out the use of mercury in major industrial process where it is intentionally added.

With this we are almost getting there.

This decision from the last crop on dental amalgam means that all products now have a phase out date.

We have fluorescent lamps to be eliminated by 2027 and already during this year many products are to be phased out.

So within the next couple of years and we will basically not have mercury added products produced or traded anymore and that reduce quite dramatically the need for mercury on the global market, but also the complication of tracking how trade of those products are being is being made, whether it's legal or illegal and so on.

The issue of use of mercury in the industrial processes also important.

The convention lists several such processes which are being where the mercury use is being phased out or is about to be phased out, and the only one that doesn't still have the phase out date is production of vinyl chloride monomer which is a big big user of mercury.

At this at this COP parties negotiated whether it can be established that economically and technically feasible alternate free, mercury free alternatives to this process existed.

However, no consensus could be reached on this matter and it has been now tabled for the COP 7 to continue the discussion.

So also the the last listed process could also be amended with the concrete phase out date.

So I would say that part of the convention has worked very well.

What's another, another big source of mercury in addition to products and processes are unintentional emissions from various processes, especially using coal, but also in cement production, waste incineration.

We can anticipate that the upcoming COP 7 will have a look at the progress in this area as we will for the first time have reports, national reports from parties on how they're complying with those requirements on, on regulating, reducing and controlling emissions of mercury from those sectors.

So I would say in a relatively short time the convention have achieved the purposes for which it has been established.

I trust that also for mission sources the progress is being made.

[Other language spoken]

This remains a challenge, especially as there is a less official and formal use of mercury.

The the trait of mercury becomes more illegal and we are facing a a challenge of illegal trade as as with other as as we can see in other conventions, for example, the illegal trade, trade of wildfowl and fluoresce, it's a similar dynamics are being developed.

The more we address and regulate mercury, the the more some of its trade become pushed to to illegality and that requires completely different set of measures and that's what we are currently looking at.

[Other language spoken]

I see no more hands.

Before we conclude, I'd like to remind you that the closing press release is available on our website and I also share it with you.

Last Friday, after the COP 6 ended.

There you will also find links to our daily newsletter stories, the photo highlights and other resources summarising the week's discussion.

Please feel free to reach out the Secretariat if you wish to arrange an interview or verify any other information.

Thank you all for your attention and your continued engagement in covering global action to end mercury pollution.

[Other language spoken]

UNEP Press conference: Minamata Convention on Mercury - 10 November 2025