Thursday, December 10, 2020
The Secretariat of the Minamata Convention attended the 59th Council Meeting of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which due to COVID-19 restrictions was held online from December 7 to December 11, 2020. The GEF Trust Fund is one of the two components of the financial mechanism of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which supports developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition in implementing their obligations under the Convention.
Minamata Convention Executive Secretary Monika Stankiewicz thanked Council members and the GEF Secretariat for their strong engagement in the Convention. Her full remarks can be found here.
For the 7th replenishment period (2018-2022), $206 million was allocated to support Minamata Convention Parties to phase out, reduce and eliminate mercury in priority sectors. The initiatives funded so far include Minamata Initial Assessments (MIAs) and artisanal and small-scale gold mining (AGSM) National Action Plans (NAPs), as well as projects designed to support implementation of particular articles of the Convention. Some GEF projects are carried out under broader programmatic approaches, such as the GEF ISLANDS (Implementing Sustainable and Low and Non-Chemical Development in SIDS) and the PlanetGOLD programme.
The Council Meeting also benefitted from the valuable participation of other Executive Secretaries of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs): Elizabeth Mrema (Convention on Biological Diversity), Ibrahim Thiaw (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) and Rolph Payet (Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions).
More information on the financial mechanism of which the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund (GEF) is part, and the Minamata Convention as a whole, can be found here.
Executive Secretary Monika Stankiewicz’s full remarks at the GEF 59th Council Meeting