Overview

The Minamata Convention on Mercury (“Minamata Convention”) is a new international environmental convention for global community to work collaboratively against mercury pollution. The Minamata Convention aims at achieving environmentally sound mercury management throughout its life cycle. The Convention was adopted at the diplomatic conferences held in Minamata City and Kumamoto City in October 2013.

The Minamata Convention entered into force on 16 August 2017 as the requirement had been fulfilled. To commemorate this historic step, United Nations Environmental Programme (UN Environment), Ministry of the Environment, Japan, Kumamoto Prefecture and Minamata City held “Celebrating Event for the Minamata Convention on Mercury – Voice from Minamata towards the Entry into Force –” in Minamata City, Kumamoto, Japan.

The event included the first part with the video letters from overseas and the declaration by the Junior High School students in Minamata City calling for the global attention. In the second part, H.E. Mr. Fernando Lugris, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Mercury, delivered a commemorative speech followed by the “Minamata Talk” lead by Mr. Hiroshi Nishida, Mayor of Minamata City, and other speakers.

Event Program

Date:
14:00pm – 16:10pm(JST), Saturday, 1st July 2017 (13:30pm entrée)
Venue:
Minamata Disease Archives, National Institute for Minamata Disease
(55-10 Myojin-cho, Minamata, Kumamoto 867-0055, Japan)
Organizers:
UN Environment, Ministry of the Environment, Japan, Kumamoto Prefecture, Minamata City

Agenda

14:00-14:30(JST)
Part1
  1. 1. Opening Addresses from Organizers
    - Mr. Yoshihiro Seki, State Minister of the Environment, Japan - Mr. Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment - Mr. Toru Tajima, Vice Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture
  2. 2. Video Messages from the World - Mr. Marc Chardonnens, Director of the Federal Office for the Environment, Switzerland - Dr. Naoko Ishii, CEO, GEF
  3. 3. Messages from Minamata Junior High School students
15:00-16:10(JST)
Part2
  1. 4. Commemorative speech
    - H.E. Mr. Fernando Lugris, Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Mercury
  2. 5. Minamata Talk
    - Mr. Hiroshi Nishida, the Mayor of Minamata City - Mr. Katsuaki Miyamoto, Previous Mayor of Minamata City - Mr. Masami Ogata, President of the Storytellers Organization at the Minamata Disease Municipal Museum - Ms. Hitomi Sonohata, Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer - Ms. Yukina Arita, 1st grade Student of Minamata High School - Ms. Claudia Ten Have, Senior Programme Coordination Officer, Interim Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury
  3. 6. Closing Remark - Dr. Yasushi Mochizuki, Director General, NIMD

Note:

English-Japanese simultaneous interpretation was provided during the Event.

Internet Broadcasting

Live broadcast via internet in both English and Japanese was available on July 1st, 2017.

English: https://youtu.be/sZConXvBy-k

Japanese: https://youtu.be/MrJpACCkGY4

Note:
The Internet Broadcasting was closed.

Participation

The information is available on the website of Minamata City, below.

Minamata City official website

http://www.city.minamata.lg.jp/3059.html

(only in Japanese)

Note:
It was closed.

Summary

Summary
http://www.env.go.jp/chemi/minamata_eif/en/summary_en.html

Leaflet
http://www.env.go.jp/chemi/minamata_eif/leaflet_en.pdf

Link

Minamata Convention on Mercury (Ministry of the Environment, Japan)
http://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/mercury/mcm.html

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