Minamata Convention COP2: Regional meetings to hold in October

Photo Caption: Executive Secretary of Minamata Convention, Rosanna Silva-Rapetto (centre) and others at a function. Filed Copy.

Ahead of the second meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury slated for 19 to 23 November, 2018 at the International Conference Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, the Secretariat of the Convention has released timetable for series of regional meetings that will take place in October.
The regional meetings as outlined by the secretariat on its website indicate that the Africa meeting will take place from 9-10 October 2018 in Lusaka, Zambia; Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia: 16-17 October 2018 in Chisinau, Moldova; Asia and the Pacific: 23-24 October 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand and Latin American and the Caribbean: 30-31 October 2018 in Lima, Peru.
Ecogreennews gathered that information sessions on other matters of relevance in the chemicals and waste cluster will be held back-to-back with the regional consultations (on 11 October for Africa, 18 October for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 25 October for Asia and the Pacific and on 29 October for Latin America and the Caribbean). The sessions will be led by the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS) and the Secretariat of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is the first global treaty that seeks to protect human health and the physical environment from the emissions and releases of mercury into the environment. It was adopted at a diplomatic meeting in Japan in 2013 and became legally binding in August 2017.
The first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP1) was held in Geneva, Switzerland in September 2017.