The Russian Federation’s experience of assessing mercury emissions in the country and developing a legal basis for dealing with them will be shared at a conference taking place on 6-8 June in Moscow.

Countries from Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe will also present how they are moving towards implementing the Minamata Convention at the event.

Participants will share experiences of setting up draft national mercury inventories, managing waste from the heavy metal as well as receive training on the sampling of mercury from industrial emissions.

Heavy industry, pesticide production and coal combustion are among processes that can lead to mercury emissions.

UN Environment hosts the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention, which aims to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. A toolkit to identify and quantify mercury releases has been drawn up to support countries.

Russia has developed a draft national inventory for the emissions under a Global Environment Facility project carried out by UN Environment.

For more information please click here or write to mijke.hertoghs@unep.org