Back2Basics: Minamata Convention on Mercury

• The Minamata Convention on Mercury is devised to safeguard human health and the environment from the detrimental impacts of mercury and its derivatives.
• Its name derives from the Japanese bay where, during the mid-20th century, industrial wastewater tainted with mercury inflicted severe health damage upon thousands of individuals, leading to what is now recognized as “Minamata disease.”
• Signed in 2013 and enforced in 2017, it operates as a United Nations treaty under the purview of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• Countries ratifying the Convention are legally obliged under international law to implement these regulations.
• 128 countries are signatories, with 119 of them having ratified it; India became a party by ratifying it in 2018.

Activities covered by the Convention:

• The Convention encompasses all phases of the mercury life cycle, aiming to regulate and diminish mercury usage across various products, processes, and industries.
• This encompasses regulations about:
  • Mercury mining involves bans on new mines and the gradual phase-out of existing ones.
  • Gradual reduction and elimination of mercury utilization in numerous products and procedures.
  • Control measures address emissions into the atmosphere and release into soil and water bodies.
  • Oversight of the informal artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector.
  • Management of interim mercury storage and its disposal once classified as waste, as well as remediation of mercury-contaminated sites and associated health issues.

PYQ:

[2010] Indiscriminate disposal of used fluorescent electric lamps causes mercury pollution in the environment. Why is mercury used in the manufacture of these lamps?

(a) A mercury coating on the inside of the lamp makes the light bright white

(b) When the lamp is switched on, the mercury in the lamp causes the emission of ultra-violet radiations

(c) When the lamp is switched on, it is the mercury which converts the ultra-violet energy into visible light

(d) None of the statement given above is correct about the use of mercury in the manufacture of fluorescent lamps