{"id":46806,"date":"2019-11-13T09:26:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T08:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/?p=46806"},"modified":"2021-08-23T11:56:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T10:56:50","slug":"initial-insights-into-the-formal-and-informal-global-mercury-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/news\/initial-insights-into-the-formal-and-informal-global-mercury-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Initial insights into the formal and informal global mercury trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Minamata convention is regulating the formal trade and use of mercury. But little information is available on the formal and especially informal pathways of mercury and how these drive the artisanal gold economies. IUCN NL is currently looking into informal mercury flows, trade hubs and key players in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Guyana, Kenya, Philippines, Suriname, Tanzania and Uganda. Initial results will be presented in Geneva on November 29.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-text-color\">&nbsp; &nbsp;<em>Header photo: Mercury use in ASGM the impact facility<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<p>Mercury use is common practice in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector, while little to no precaution measures are taken to protect human health and the environment from this highly toxic substance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Informal trade routes remain elusive<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<p>More than 1,400 tons of mercury is released to the environment every year. The Minamata convention is regulating the formal trade and use of mercury. But little information is available on the formal and especially informal pathways of mercury and how these drive the artisanal gold economies. From its original source to the gold mining sites at the other end of the world, trade routes of informally traded mercury remain largely elusive to this day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Unveiling informal mercury flows, trade hubs and key players<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<p>An insight into the supply routes and value chain of the mercury market is needed to support the reduction of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Where does mercury originate from?<\/li><li>How is it transported and by whom?<\/li><li>Through which formal and informal channels?<\/li><li>Who benefits most from the mercury trade?<\/li><li>Which systems are constraining mercury free artisanal gold?<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<p>To answer these questions, IUCN NL and local partner organisations are looking into the political ecology of the links between gold and mercury to identify illicit mercury flows, trade hubs and key players in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Guyana, Kenya, Philippines, Suriname, Tanzania and Uganda.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Strenghtening the Minamata convention<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<p>The aim of the research is to strengthen the Minamata convention with information that is not available through official channels and presents an addition to the knowledge collected in UNEP\u2019s global mercury assessment. \u201cBy informing national governments with the insight gained into the illicit mercury trade, we hope to support National Action Plans to enhance the governance of mercury in the ASGM sector. Furthermore, we aim to raise awareness in the global community about the influence and impact of the illicit mercury trade on ASGM,\u201d says Barbara Hendus, Expert Extractives and Conservation at IUCN NL.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Initial results presented on November 29<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<p>After an intensive investigation phase by local teams existing of partner NGOs coached by globally recognized expert consultants, initial results of the study were presented during a side-event of the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP3), which takes place in Geneva from 25 to 29 November.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-fill\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/flyer_mercury_governance_presentation_initial_results.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Practical information on the side-event<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Report available in April 2020<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<p>The global report on mercury governance will be released on April 14 2020 on iucn.nl\/mercury. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Read more<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block block-container small-12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/news\/global-action-to-improve-mercury-governance\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/news\/global-action-to-improve-mercury-governance\/\">Article: Global action to improve mercury governance<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"background \" id=\"block_6113baecf1ae4\">\n             <div class=\"dark custom-padding-top\">\n    \n\n\n<div class=\"smallteam-members__name12 large-offset-1 large-10\">\n\t<div id=\"team-members-block_6113baeff1ae5\" class=\"team-members team-members-block block\">\n\t\t<span class=\"anchor-id\" id=\"\"><\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"team-members__title\">\n\t\t\t\t<div>Learn more?<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"team-members__body small-12 grid-x\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"team-members__item grid-x small-12 medium-6\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"team-members__image cell shrink\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/mark-van-der-wal\/\" target=\"\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"team-members__image-wrapper lazyload\" style=\"background-image:inherit;\" data-bg-image=\"url(&#039;https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/40Mark-IUCN-040722-scaled.jpg&#039;)\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/app\/uploads\/2022\/07\/40Mark-IUCN-040722-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 2560px; 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But little information is available on the formal and especially informal pathways of mercury and how these drive the artisanal gold economies. IUCN NL is currently looking into informal mercury flows, trade hubs and key players in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Guyana, Kenya, Philippines, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":46809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"yes","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[{"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_type":"none"}],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[184,197],"class_list":["post-46806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-mining","tag-responsible-value-chains"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46806"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47269,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46806\/revisions\/47269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}