The interlinkage between mercury pollution and biodiversity loss was recognized for the first time under the Minamata Convention on Mercury at the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-4) in March 2022, in decision 4/12 on international cooperation and coordination. At the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-5), Parties adopted another decision, MC-5/17, on Mercury and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Through these decisions, the COP set a concrete pathway for achieving synergy and coherence across the Minamata Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity and other biodiversity-related conventions.

The effects of mercury on biodiversity

 

Mercury is an extremely toxic pollutant that bioaccumulates and biomagnifies throughout the food chain. It impacts the physiology and survival of animal across different taxa and puts further pressure on species that are already under pressure from other drivers. Birds and migratory species, such as marine mammals, carry mercury across long distances, as far as the Arctic where many species are already under threat from climate change and other drivers of biodiversity loss. Mercury also impacts several ecosystem functions and services such as the provision of food, air filtration, water purification, and traditional and cultural values, as well as the livelihoods and health of hundreds of millions of people.

 

 

Interlinkages with biodiversity

 

There are multiple opportunities for effective collaboration across Conventions to achieve the ambitions of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. For example, this could include cooperation with UN Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD, on land degradation caused by mercury used in artisanal gold mining; with Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, CMS, on mercury and migratory species; with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, CITES, on best practices to combat illegal trade of mercury.

Implementing the Minamata Convention means controlling, reducing and eliminating mercury throughout its lifecycle and preventing further increases of mercury that circulates in the environment, which would continue to affect biodiversity for future decades.

 

Meet the expert

 

Should you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact Monika Stankiewicz, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, at monika.stankiewicz [at] un.org.