Addressing Mercury Challenges on the Global Stage

Newswise — This path came into focus more than two decades ago, when Dave presented his research findings at a Maine public hearing on mercury regulations sponsored by then Congressman Tom Allen. He also worked with Senator Susan Collins to present his mercury work on Capitol Hill. Fast forward 20 years, BRI is now a well-known and highly respected resource for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and to members of governments across the globe in the area of mercury research.

In late July 2024, BRI was a Gold Sponsor for the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP) held in Cape Town, South Africa. The Conference theme was From Minamata to Africa and Beyond: Addressing Mercury Challenges in Global Environmental Change. BRI staff participated in every aspect of the event:

• Dave Evers led a workshop on biomonitoring, the process of assessing the health of organisms and ecosystems and tracking changes in mercury risk and exposure over time. He also discussed mercury monitoring efforts that BRI has been working on over the years; BRI’s data is now being used by UNEP to aid in the goals of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

• Celia Chen, co-director of BRI’s Center for Mercury Studies, moderated a plenary session entitled Effectiveness Evaluation of the Minamata Convention, which highlighted the importance of collecting and analyzing mercury data to better understand the implementation and effectiveness of the Convention.
• Mark Burton, BRI’s senior ecological analyst, participated as a panelist in discussions and as a member of the Convention’s Open-ended Scientific Group (OESG). He provided updates on the data collection process for the development of the OESG mercury database.
• At a special session on Mercury and Biodiversity, Tim Tear, director of BRI’s Center for Conservation and Climate Change, presented on the use of ecosystem sensitivity mapping to understand mercury threat levels.
• A second plenary session focused on Mercury and its Potential Impacts on Biodiversity with Dave Evers moderating a panel discussion that included the Minamata Convention Secretariat, Monika Stankiewicz, and representatives from UNEP, Centro de Innovación Científica Amazónica – CINCIA (CINCIA), Wake Forest University (WFU), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Topics included the linkages between biodiversity initiatives and the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the impacts of artisanal and small-scale gold mining on biodiversity, and the empowerment of indigenous communities to find solutions.
• Chris Sayers, a tropical bird specialist, presented his research on mercury exposure in tropical birds and his work with BRI’s Tropical Research for Avian Conservation and Ecotoxicology (TRACE) project.
• BRI researchers also presented two scientific posters:
  • Mark Burton presented on The intersection of global biodiversity priority areas and mercury threat, highlighting the impact of mercury on loss of biodiversity and the importance of evaluating the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention obligations to reduce mercury emissions and its subsequent impacts on biota.
  • Tahlia Ali Shah, BRI’s international environmental specialist, was the lead presenter on the poster, Supporting the phase out of mercury-added skin lightening products across the African, Asian, and Caribbean regions, which highlighted key activities for the UNEP/World Health Organization project, Eliminating Mercury Skin Lightening Products (Jamaica, Gabon, and Sri Lanka). Throughout the conference, skin lightening products were underscored as a potentially major issue for future research.

Overall, the ICMGP 2024 provided a valuable platform to learn more about the work being done by researchers across the globe and to share the work that BRI researchers are doing.

Learn more about BRI’s Center for Mercury Studies here.