Monday 19 November, 18:15-19:00
Benefits of regional and comprehensive approaches in the waste management and ASGM sector
UNIDO and Switzerland
Presentation of the expert meeting on Hg waste hold in Vienna in September (results and next steps). Presentation of the outcome of the study in the ECOWAS region on mercury and gold trade regulation and possible follow up actions to take a regional approach to control these flows. Read more
Presentations: Final UNIDO ECOWAS gold and mercury report -English.pdf
UNIDO waste meeting side event.pdf
20181119-UNIDO Mercury programme-Alhilali.pdf
ESM for UNIDO side event.pdf
Global initiative UNIDO ECOWAS Presentation.pdf
Wednesday 21 November, 18:15-19:00
Phase down amalgam and non-use in children: Lessons from Bangkok global workshop focused on “Women, Children and through them Future Generations”
World Alliance for Mercury Free Dentistry
The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry works closely with the governments and civil society, especially the dental profession and civil society organizations, across Asia Africa, the Americas, , Europe, and Island States to end amalgam for children immediately, and to phase out all amalgam use by, for example, 2020 and 2022 (as per country situation). Spearheading an alliance of 73 NGOs, the World Alliance asked Executive Director Erik Solheim for UN Environment to partner to have a global workshop addressing amalgam for children – which the E.D. authorized and to which he gave the opening address. Held in May 2018 in Bangkok and tailored precisely to the goal stated in the Minamata Convention preamble -- “Women, Children and through them Future Generations” – workshop participants formulated “roadmaps” for major reductions in dental amalgam use, which we will demonstrate in this showcase event and it will be effective for the participants of the conference who is working to phase down and phasing out dental amalgam use in their own nation.
Objectives:
- Non-use of dental amalgam in children by 2019
- Non-use of dental amalgam use by 2022
Target Audience:
- government (health and/or environment ministries)
- Environmental NGOs
- INGO’s
- UN agency officials
- Media
- Other relevant participants of the meeting
Expected Result:
- many common measures will be shared that taken by countries which had effectively eliminated or significantly reduced the use of amalgam
Format:
- Audio visual presentation
Knowledge products to be shared:
- Booklet
- Report
- Flyers
Expected Speakers:
- Experts
- Parties
- UN Environment representative
- Representative from ZMWG
- Representative from IPEN
- World Alliance representative
Thursday 22 November, 18:15-19:00
From information to impact: managing, analyzing and visualizing data for National Action Plans for ASGM
UN Environment
Countries developing National Action Plans (NAP) for artisanal and small scale gold mining (ASGM) need to have a good understanding of the sector in order to develop effective strategies, among others, to reduce mercury use, formalize or regulate the sector, and to protect human health and prevent the exposure of vulnerable populations. To gain this understanding countries first collect data from AGSM sites in the field, including baseline information on mercury use and practices employed at the mining sites, as well as socio-economic, health and environment aspects.
Effectively managing this wealth of information, sharing it among government agencies and monitoring the effectiveness of mercury reduction strategies can be a challenge. As part of UN Environment’s assistance to the countries developing National Action Plans, the online geo-spatial MapX platform offers customized dashboards to support countries in managing information related to mercury use and reduction in the ASGM mining sector.
After launching the customized NAP dashboard in September 2017 at the first Conference of the Parties in Geneva, MapX is now available for implementation at the country level. The event will provide an opportunity to demonstrate the MapX platform, its functions and features specific for monitoring and implementation of the NAP projects and complying with the Minamata Convention. It will showcase select country use cases and provide an overview of customizations options specific to individual country needs.
Target audience: Governmental representatives from countries with ASGM, civil society stakeholders, IGOs
Expected speakers:
- Kenneth Davis, Chemicals and Health Branch, UN Environment
- Inga Petersen, Crisis Management Branch, UN Environment
- A representative from the country developing NAP (tbc)