Five years have passed since the Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force on 16 August 2017. Although the convention itself is young, it builds on a long history of scientific efforts to understand and manage the risk of mercury, a toxic substance.
Mercury’s toxicity has long been known. It devastated the fishing villages in Minamata Bay, Japan, in the middle of the 20th century. Governments around the world reacted with domestic regulations on mercury pollution. In 1990, researchers organized the first meeting of the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP). ICMGP has organized 15 meetings and has published synthesis papers as a scientific input to policy making.
"Science has been a driving force behind the Minamata Convention,” said Monika Stankiewicz, Executive Secretary of the Minamata Convention.