WEBINAR - Minamata Initial Assessments: latest trends, key findings and data analysis tools - 27 September 2022

The Global Mercury Partnership organised an information sharing session on Minamata Initial Assessments (MIAs): latest trends, key findings and data analysis tools, on Tuesday 27 September 2022, from 2:00pm to 3:30pm CEST, in an online setting.

The development of Minamata Convention Initial Assessments (MIA) is one of the enabling activities supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for developing countries and countries with economies in transition. A key component of MIAs is identifying source categories, uses, emissions and releases of mercury at the national level, in order to help countries determine national priorities. Of the approximately 145 approved MIAs projects, 68 have been published on the Minamata Convention website.

The MIA reports include, among other components, the development of national mercury inventories, using the UNEP Toolkit for the Identification and Quantification of Mercury Emissions and Releases. The data collected from these inventories not only provides an estimate of the sources of emissions and releases of mercury in each country, but also paves the way for a global and regional analysis.

The webinar presented initial analysis of aggregated data from 74 MIA mercury inventories and explored patterns and trends in the data. Furthermore, it introduced efforts to enhance the UNEP Mercury Inventory Toolkit’s mass balance approach and adjust default factors for some sectors. Participants had the opportunity to provide feedback on this Toolkit enhancement proposal.

The webinar was facilitated by the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership.