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Minamata Convention on Mercury

About the Convention

The Minamata Convention on Mercury is is an international treaty that seeks to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic (caused by humans) emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. The text of the Minamata Convention was officially adopted and opened for signature in 2013. It came into force on 16 August 2017, after the 50th country ratified/approved it.

The Convention describes how countries can protect human health and the environment from mercury and mercury compounds.

These include controls on:

  • mercury mining
  • manufacture and trade of mercury and mercury-containing products
  • disposal of mercury waste
  • emissions of mercury from industrial facilities.

Countries that have ratified the Convention are bound by international law to implement these controls.

Ratifying the Convention

Australia signed the Minamata Convention on 10 October 2013. Prior to Australia ratifying the Convention, which would see us become a full Party and be legally bound by the Convention’s requirements, our domestic treaty-making process requires a number of steps to be completed.

As part of the treaty-making process, a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) and National Interest Analysis will be tabled in Parliament. Ratification will then be considered by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties before a final decision is made by the Australian Government.

The final RIS on Australia’s ratification of the Minamata Convention was published in March 2021. It draws on significant analysis and consultation spanning six years (2014 to 2020) and assesses the potential costs, benefits and impacts of Australia’s ratification of the Convention.

The RIS finds that:

  • the most effective means to reduce the risk of mercury exposure is to prevent its emission and release
  • ratifying the Convention will fill gaps within the existing domestic regulatory framework
  • ratifying the Convention will deliver significant benefits for human health and the environment, both domestically and internationally.

Risk of mercury

Mercury is a chemical of global concern because:

  • it is persistent in the environment once released
  • it can travel large distances in the atmosphere and oceans and affect human health and the environment even in remote locations
  • it can bioaccumulate in ecosystems and up the food web
  • it can have significant negative effects on human health and the environment.

Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal that can cause serious adverse effects on humans, ecosystems, and wildlife. Exposure can harm the immune system, brain, heart, kidneys, and lungs of people of all ages.

Victims may suffer memory loss or language impairment. Damage to the brain cannot be reversed. There is no known safe exposure level for elemental mercury in humans. Its effects can be seen even at very low levels. Foetuses, newborn babies and children are among the most vulnerable and sensitive to the adverse effects of mercury (UNEP 2017).

The Minamata Convention is named after a place in Japan where, in the mid-20th century, mercury-tainted industrial wastewater poisoned thousands of people. It resulted in crippling symptoms that became known as the "Minamata disease".

How people and the environment are exposed

Due to its unique properties, mercury has been widely used in products such as:

The mercury contained in these products can be released into the environment throughout their life cycle, including:

  • during production
  • breakage during use
  • product disposal.

Mercury has also been used in industrial processes that produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide (mercury chlor-alkali plants) or vinyl chloride monomer for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production, and polyurethane elastomers.

Mercury may also be a by-product of raw material refining or production processes, such as oil and gas refining and non-ferrous metal production.

Mercury emissions and releases can be caused by human activities (i.e. they may be anthropogenic). They may also result from natural sources such as volcanic eruptions.  Human activities have increased total atmospheric mercury concentrations by about 450% above natural levels (UN Environment 2019).

Further Information

Contact us

Please direct any enquiries regarding mercury or the Minamata Convention to Minamata@awe.gov.au