–President Granger warns, as Guyana recommits to the Minamata Convention

PRESIDENT David Granger has sent a strong message to those countries still inclined to use mercury in the extractive industries, in spite of the health dangers it poses to humans and the environment.
“Mercury is not a plaything; it is harmful to human health and to the physical environment, whether in the air, on land or in water,” President Granger said.
“The use of mercury in human products and processes is a threat to human health and the environment,” he told a high-level side-event of the First Conference of Parties (COP1) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
The purpose of the meeting, held in the Swiss capital, Geneva, from September 24 to 29, was to call further attention to the threats of mercury emissions and compounds to people’s survival and the planet’s sustainability.

While addressing the meeting, President Granger used the opportunity to reaffirm Guyana’s commitment to the Minamata Convention, which he said must be intensified for the protection of people and the preservation of the planet, and to avoid further harm from mercury emissions.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect humans and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. It draws attention to a global and ubiquitous metal that, while naturally occurring, has broad uses in everyday objects, and is released to the atmosphere, soil and water from a variety of sources. Controlling the anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its lifecycle has been a key factor in shaping the obligations under the Convention.

Among those countries that are still to ratify the Convention are: Australia, Argentina, Colombia, India, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, and the UK. Guyana did on September 24, 2014.
On May 18, 2017, the Convention reached the targeted 50 ratifications it needed to bring it into force, with the coming on board of the European Union and seven of its member states, namely: Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, The Netherlands, Romania and Sweden.

LARGER THAN GREENLAND
In his preamble to show Guyana’s committment to the process, President Granger told the conference of its being part of The Guiana Shield, an area larger than Greenland which incorporates parts of Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Suriname and Venezuela.
This Shield, he explained, is one of the most biologically-rich and diverse zones, and one of the largest blocks of tropical rainforest on the planet.
He also spoke of the hinterland and its being home to most of Guyana’s extractive industries, among them bauxite, diamonds, gold and manganese-mining, sometimes illegally, across its long, land frontiers with Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname.
And then he got to the crux of the matter. “Mercury, used to extract gold from ore, can find itself into the air, soil and rivers. The prevention of mercury pollution is vital to the protection of people’s lives and livelihoods, and the sustainability of the environment,” he said.

Guyana, he assured the conference, is pursuing a model of development aimed at becoming a ‘Green State’; one which emphasises the extension of protected areas, the preservation of its biodiversity, the protection of the environment, the provision of eco-tourism and eco-educational services, the promotion of renewable energy generation, and the sustainable management of its natural resources.
He said that in light of the foregoing objectives, Guyana needs the Minamata Convention on Mercury, as it is a means to achieve its ‘green’ development objectives. As he went on to explain, the phased reduction and eventual elimination of the use of mercury is part of Guyana’s national mining policy, and is consistent with its obligations under the Convention.
“The Convention will be a tool to ensure both improved human health in the artisanal and small gold-mining sector, and the sustainable management of its natural resources,” the president said, adding that while the artisanal, small-and medium-scale gold-mining sector is significant to the national economy, it is, however, associated with 41 per cent of anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury.

HIGHLY DEPENDENT
He said that this being the case, the reduction of mercury emissions, therefore, is highly dependent on reduction in the use of mercury in gold-mining.
“Mercury used in the amalgamation process in gold-mining has found its way into the waterways… and presents a threat to the country’s aquatic systems and its biodiversity. The amalgamation process can leech into the soil and waterways, affecting both humans and the ecosystems,” he said.
Noting that Guyana was among the earliest signatories to the Convention, President Granger said that the implementation process began with the preparation of a Draft National Action Plan aimed at advancing efforts at the phased reduction and eventual elimination of mercury and mercury products.
According to him, commitments for Guyana’s National Action Plan, developed in compliance with the Convention’s requirements, need international support. The international community – the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)- funded Minamata Initial Assessment (MIA) and World Wildlife Fund – was involved in the preparation for the implementation of the Convention, he said.

“The Convention’s implementation will be driven over the next decade by a GEF-funded project entitled, ‘Global Opportunities for Long-term Development (GOLD) in the Artisanal Small Gold-mining Sector’, one of eight such programmes undertaken with the assistance of Conservation International worldwide,” President Granger said.
He said the success of the implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury will depend on three factors: education and transfer of mercury-free technologies throughout the artisanal and small gold-mining sector; enforcement of regulations throughout the hinterland and the mining sector; and the introduction of economically viable alternatives to mercury use to aid in the efficiency of gold production.
According to him, the implementation of the Convention on Mercury encourages policies and practices which eliminate or limit the use of mercury, promotes sustainable livelihoods and improves human safety.
He said the eradication of mercury, in countries in which gold-mining is a significant economic activity, requires a holistic, phased reduction, the identification of viable mercury-free technologies and the transfer of those technologies to countries which do not possess such technologies.
In closing, he said: “I applaud the United Nations Environment Programme and the Global Environment Fund for shepherding the process which led to the coming into effect of the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The ‘Convention’ is helping us to protect the people and the planet.”