GUYANA participated in a High Level Special Event- ‘The Minamata Convention on Mercury: Towards its early entry into force and effective implementation’, which was held at the United Nations Headquarters, New York. Guyana was represented by Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Hon. Robert M. Persaud.
Minister Persaud had earlier signed the Minamata Convention during an international conference organised by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which was held in Minamata, Japan, October 9-11, 2013.
In his remarks to the UN High Level Special Event, Minister Persaud urged that the pledges made to support the transition from mercury to mercury-free mining by governments as well as international agencies must be delivered on early.

Further, the Natural Resources and the Environment Minister updated the meeting on Guyana’s own efforts through the use of national resources to reduce the use of mercury in mining at the national level.
According to a United Nations media release, twenty-two countries have taken major steps to address the emissions and releases of one of the most notorious heavy metals – mercury. A year after the adoption of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, Ministers and senior government officials from around the world have renewed the international community’s commitment to combat the global threat posed to human health and the environment from mercury pollution worldwide.

The high-level special event witnessed three States agreeing to become Parties to the Minamata Convention and an additional 15 States signing the treaty. In addition, two more States joined the Convention and three additional States signed it since UN Treaty Event. The Governments of Djibouti, Gabon, Guyana, Monaco and Uruguay have joined the United States as the first six future Parties to the Convention. The United States had joined the Convention last November.

An additional 18 countries, bringing the total number to 120, used this occasion to sign the Convention, namely: Belarus, Cameroon, Croatia, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Latvia, Liberia, Malaysia, Monaco, Montenegro, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey.
Held in the margins of the opening of the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly, and in conjunction with the Secretary-General’s annual Treaty Event, the event was jointly convened by the Governments of Japan, Switzerland, the United States and Uruguay, with the assistance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN media release added.
Named after a city in Japan where serious health damage occurred as a result of mercury pollution in the mid-20th century, the Minamata Convention aims to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.

The Convention requires that 50 States have to agree to become Parties to bring the Convention into force. Signature will be closed on 9 October 2014. Meeting this cut-off date for signature could be of particular importance for developing countries and countries with economies in transition, as signing the Convention is a condition to access funding for enabling activities and pre-ratification projects from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
UNEP provides secretariats for a number of key Conventions aiming, like the Minamata Convention, for the sustainable management of chemicals and hazardous wastes, including the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, which are served by a joint Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. The Basel Convention (on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal) is celebrating its 25th anniversary of its adoption, and has almost universal membership.