The potential value of UNEP Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research Partnership Area activities within the Minamata Convention framework

The Governing Council of UNEP agreed on the need to develop a global treaty on mercury, by an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) supported by the Chemicals Branch of the UNEP as secretariat, in 2009. At its first session, held in Sweden from 7 to 11 June 2010, the INC requested the Secretariat to prepare an analysis of possible options for using partnerships to help achieve the goals of the future instrument on mercury, including the option of integrating partnerships into the instrument. Such an analysis was discussed at the second meeting of the INC, held in Japan from 24 to 28 January 2011, and it has been recognized that formal partnership groups are a technical delivery tool that could support Parties in their implementation of the future instrument. The Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted and opened for signature at the fifth session of the INC in Geneva, Switzerland on Saturday, 19 January 2013. The Convention represents an important global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury and, to date, it has been ratified by 12 countries.