Mercury poisoning has occurred in a number of places around the world. Sometimes as a result of mining and sometimes as a result of industrial pollution and sometimes because it is present in the local environment. Some examples of places where methyl-mercury poisoning has occurred are: Minamata Bay in Japan in 1956 where people got sick from eating contaminated fish and shellfish from the bay area (contaminated by methyl-mercury). This was due to the dumping of industrial waste into the bay. Iraq in 1971 where wheat was treated with fungicide containing methyl-mercury and the wheat was used to make bread. Hundreds died as a result of the mercury poisoning.
The Amazon basin in Brazil where there was widespread mercury contamination during the 1980s to the present, of a number of communities not directly connected to mining. The mercury in the Amazon River and its tributaries in Brazil are believed to have come partly from the burning of the huge rain forest areas and partly from the small-scale mining activities in the area. The same disease which was identified in Minamata resulting from methyl-mercury poisoning is now being discovered in other parts of the world where there is extensive use of mercury in the small-scale mining industry or in general industry use.
Guyana’s Proposal Presented at the Minamata Convention held in Japan last October – A phased approach to full implementation of the convention
1. The Government of Guyana agrees that strong linkages exist between the provision of financial and technical assistance to achieve compliance under the convention. As such, we have recognized the need to adhere to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” and, hereby, propose the phased implementation of the global legally binding instrument on mercury over a period of 10 years.
2. This proposal takes into account the different characteristics and situations of developing countries and gives a 10 year period for the development and delivery of an appropriate instrument (by the international community) which should be able to deliver predictable, stable and timely financial support to countries such as Guyana. As is stipulated in the draft policy document, the mechanism should be in the form of one or more funds which should be operated by one or more entities (in order to satisfy the requirements of predictability and stability).
3. Financial support should take the following into consideration:
* The execution of a comprehensive environmental education and awareness, training, capacity building activities for policy makers, and the general population;
* The promotion and adoption of viable, locally applicable alternative technologies;
* The promotion of eco-design, eco-labelling and other transparent and verifiable indicators while the effectively enforcing compliance of revised legislation;
* The application of the Precautionary Principal and the Polluter Pays Principal and other financial penalties;
* Enhancing the participation of local and indigenous communities to play an active stakeholder role in the reduction and monitoring of mercury emission;
* The adoption of unambiguous gold mining policy and the strengthening of governmental institutions charged with environmental, monitoring, introduction and adoption of low-mercury or mercury-free gold-processing methodologies.
4. In addition, international mechanisms should be instituted for the North to South delivery of technical assistance and viable alternative technologies in order to facilitate readiness for the implementation of the policy. These measures should focus on viable actions and practical measures that could be implemented in Guyana.
