GEF and the Minamata Convention
Means for implementation
Ibrahima SOW
Chemicals Cluster Coordinator
(GEF Climate and Chemicals)
GEF/Chemicals objectives
•
Phase out POPs and reduce POPs releases
• Production and use of controlled POPs chemicals
phased out;
• Exempted POPs chemicals used in an environmentally
sound manner;
• POPs releases to the environment reduced;
• POPs waste prevented, managed, and disposed of, and
POPs contaminated sites managed in an
environmentally sound
GEF/Chemicals objectives
• Phase out ODS and reduce ODS releases
• Support CEITS in meeting their reporting obligations
under the Montreal Protocol, including HCFCs phase
out plans
• Pilot Sound Chemicals Management and Mercury Reduction
• Promote the sound management of chemicals
throughout their life cycle in ways that lead to the
minimization of significant adverse effects on human
health and the environment.
GEF funding for Chemicals
 $425 million allocated to chemicals. The distribution
of resources is as follows:

POPs: $375 million

Ozone: $25 million

Sound chemicals management and mercury
reduction: $25 million
The GEF and mercury
• GEF involvement in addressing mercury dates back to 1995
when the GEF Council, recognized the global significance of
problems posed by persistent toxic substances (PTS), which
include mercury, heavy metals and organo-metallic
compounds.
•
Early actions were taken to assess the use of mercury in the
artisanal and small scale gold mining (ASGM) sector through a
GEF pilot project implemented by the United National
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
The GEF and mercury (con’t)
• Important advances in mercury emission reduction
made in GEF 4 (2006-2010) through a GEF/UNDP
global medical waste project to control unintentional
releases of POPs (dioxins and furans). The project
successfully added a mercury component to take
mercury out of selected medical waste streams and
allowed the replacement of mercury containing
devices with mercury-free ones.
The GEF and mercury (con’t)
• GEF-5 (2010-2014): Allocation of $25 million for projects to
complement and advance negotiations on a global, legallybinding mercury instrument.
• Strategy for mercury elaborated and approved by the GEF
Council at its 39th session, to support assessment and pilot
activities that will advance the development of the global
mercury instrument.
• Projects supported in the following issue areas:
The GEF and mercury (con’t)
 Reducing mercury use in products
 Reducing mercury use in industrial processes
 Reducing mercury use and exposures in Artisanal and SmallScale Gold Mining
 Enhancing capacity for mercury storage
 Reducing atmospheric emissions of Mercury
 Improved data and scientific information at the national level
 Enhancing capacity to address waste and contaminated sites.
Ongoing GEF mercury projects
• Mercury inventories and development of action plans in
– Russian federation
– Latin America and the Caribbean
– China
• Implementation of integrated measures for minimizing
mercury releases from artisanal gold mining (ASGM) in
– West Africa (Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal)
– Latin America and the Caribbean (Peru and Ecuador)
– Asia (Mongolia and Philippines)
–
Ongoing GEF mercury projects (con’t)
• Global monitoring on human exposure to and environmental
concentrations o mercury
• Preparatory project to facilitate implementation of the
Minamata Convention in Argentina
• Environmentally sound life cycle management of mercury
containing product and wastes in Uruguay
• Environmentally sound management of mercury and mercury
containing products and their wastes in ASGM;
• Reducing global and local environmental risks from primary
mercury mining in Kyrgyzstan.
Ongoing GEF mercury projects (con’t)
• Industrial processes
• Reduction of mercury emissions in zinc smelting
operations in China, one of the largest mercury emissions
sources in China
Implementation of the Minamata
Convention
• Article 13 of the Minamata Convention on
Mercury establishes a financial mechanism
that shall include the Global Environment
Facility Trust Fund and a specific international
Programme to support capacity-building and
technical assistance.
Implementation of the Minamata
Convention (con’t)
• Specifically Article 13 states the following:
“The Global Environment Facility Trust Fund shall provide new,
predictable, adequate and timely financial resources to meet
costs in support of implementation of this Convention as agreed
by the Conference of the Parties. The GEF Trust Fund shall be
operated under the guidance of and be accountable to the
Conference of the Parties”.
Implementation of the Minamata
Convention (con’t)
• Minamata COP shall provide guidance on
– Overall strategies,
– Policies, programme priorities and eligibility for access to and
utilization of financial resources.
• In addition MC COP shall provide guidance on an indicative
list of categories of activities that could receive support from
the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund. The Global
Environment Facility Trust Fund shall provide resources to
meet the agreed incremental costs of global environmental
benefits and the agreed full costs of some enabling activities.”
Implementation of the Minamata
Convention (con’t)
• At its 44th Meeting in June 2013, the GEF Council “Authorized the
use of up to $10 million for the funding of an early action preratification program for the Minamata Convention to be programed
during the remainder of GEF-5, upon request by eligible signatory
countries.
• GEF Secretariat prepared initial guidelines 1 for enabling activities for
the Minamata Convention for the development of
– Minamata initial assessment (MIAs)
– Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) National Action
Plans (NAP), in accordance with Article 7 (3) of the Convention.
1GEF/C.45/Inf.05
Perspectives for GEF-6
• Activities to be supported in GEF-6
 Minamata Convention initial assessment activities, including
assessment of legislation and policies in regard to the
implementation of the Convention, initial inventory of mercury,
identification of emission/release sources of mercury, and
assessment of the institutional and capacity needs
 Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) National Action Plans
(NAPs)
 Phase out and elimination of the use of mercury in ASGM in
interaction and collaboration with relevant NGOs, CBOs, ministries
of labor and others
Perspectives for GEF-6 (con’t)
•
•
Reduction and elimination of mercury from emissive sources listed in
Annex D of the Minamata Convention;
Phase out and elimination of mercury in the global supply chain, where
appropriate, including mercury in products;
Reduction, phase out or elimination of mercury used in certain industrial
processes;
Assessment and sound management of mercury storage
Framework for the environmentally sound management of mercurycontaining wastes taking into account any relevant guidelines developed
under the Basel Convention
Development of detailed inventories on mercury
Introduction of life cycle management of mercury
•
see GEF6 programming document
•
•
•
•
•
Projected resources
$ 125 – 130 million - Pending completion of GEF6 replenishment - (April 2014 in Geneva)
Thank you for your attention
For more information, please contact the GEF Chemicals Team
 Robert Dixon (rdixon1@thegef.org): Team Leader:
 Ibrahima SOW (isow@thegef.org): Chemicals Cluster
Coordinator
 Anil Sookdeo: Senior Environmental Specialist
 Hiroaki Takiguchi (htakiguchi@thegef.org) Senior
environmental Special
 Evelyn Swain (eswain@thegef.org): Environmental Specialist