H Agarwalla, M Gangoapdhyay and RE Masto

Globally, many environmental conventions, like the Stockholm Convention, Basel Convention, Montreal Protocol, and many others, are in force to protect the environment and human health from harmful pollutants. Minamata convention is apparently the newer one and is less talked about. Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2013 to address the environmental and health impacts of mercury.

The first known case of mercury poisoning occurred in Minamata Bay in Japan in 1956. The high mercury level in fish in the bay has a catastrophic impact on human health. The high mercury in the bay results from untreated wastewater from nearby chemical industry. This is the reason the convention was called the Minamata convention. The convention aimed to control and reduce mercury emissions in the environment. India also became part of this convention and signed Minamata convention on 30 September 2014, which was later ratified on 18 June 2018. With this, India has committed to implement these measures within the country. This year marks the 6th year of ratification of the Minamata convention for India. At this point, it is important to look at the major sources of mercury contamination and its impact on the future…read more on NOPR