• Overview

The webinar Regional Experience in Implementing the Minamata Convention: Progress Towards Reducing or Eliminating Dental Amalgam and Responsibly Managing Its Waste took place online with simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, English and Portuguese,  on 1 October 2025.

To support countries in fulfilling the Minamata Convention’s provisions on dental amalgam, the WHO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), launched the project “Accelerating the Implementation of Provisions on Dental Amalgam and Strengthening National Capacities for the Environmentally Sound Management of Associated Waste.”

This project, involving three countries from different regions of the world, selected Uruguay to represent Latin America and the Caribbean, in recognition of its strong commitment and notable progress in phasing out dental amalgam and properly managing associated waste.

This virtual seminar, organized by PAHO/WHO and UNEP, brought together representatives from Uruguay, Chile, Peru, El Salvador, and Costa Rica, along with international experts in oral health, environmental health, and chemical safety.

The objective of the seminar was to exchange national and regional experiences in the implementation of the Minamata Convention, highlighting the progressive phase-out of dental amalgam and the environmentally sound management of mercury waste.

Recordings of the event are available with interpretaion in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Meeting report in English and in Spanish

 

 

The overall goal of the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership is to protect human health and the environment from the releases of mercury.

© United Nations Environment Programme