Highlights and images for 25 September 2017

Switzerland

Summary

The first Conference of the Parties (COP1) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury convened for a second day on Monday, 25 September 2017. Meeting in a Committee of the Whole (COW) chaired by Fernando Lugris, Uruguay, delegates discussed issues related to, among others: reporting; financial mechanism including the specific international programme; the Memorandum of Understanding between the COP and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council; guidance to the GEF; the functions of a permanent secretariat; and effectiveness evaluation.

Two contact groups to further discuss reporting and financial mechanism were established and convened during the day. A Friends of the Chair group met in the evening to consider the permanent functions of the secretariat.
Delegates also engaged in a thematic dialogue on land during the lunch break, and also attended a Minamata Convention Initial Assessment (MIA) clinic.

IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports for COP1. The summary and analysis is now available in HTML and PDF.

Photos by IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
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Morning Plenary - Committee of the Whole (COW)

View of the dais (L-R): Sheila Logan, Interim Secretariat of the Minamata Convention; Jacob Duer, Principal Coordinator, Interim Secretariat of the Minamata Convention; Fernando Lugris, Uruguay, COW Chair; Claudia Ten Have, Interim Secretariat of the Minamata Convention; Stadler Trengove, Legal Advisor; and Nina Cromnier, Sweden, Rapporteur

Fernando Lugris, Uruguay, COW Chair

Angela Rivera, Colombia, speaking on behalf of the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Juan Miguel Cuna, the Philippines

Toï Pagnibam Meba, Togo

Karissa Kovner, US

Sunee Piyapanpong, Thailand

Heidar Ali Balouji, Iran

Serge Molly Allo'o Allo'o, Gabon

Chizuru Aoki, Global Environment Facility (GEF)

Andrei Pilipchuk, Belarus

Franz Perrez, Switzerland

Marc D'Iorio, Canada

Fuatino Matatumua-Leota, Samoa

Gillian Guthrie, Jamaica

Afternoon Plenary

View of the room during the afternoon plenary

Gbenakpon Macandjou Sandra Gonou, Benin

Najib Rahman Said, Afghanistan

Ji-Young Lim, Republic of Korea

Anahit Aleksandryan, Armenia

Andrew McNee, Australia

David Lennett, Zero Mercury Working Group

Nohelia Carolina Vargas Idiáquez, Nicaragua

Yingxian Xia, China

Sam Adu-Kumi, Ghana, speaking on behalf of the African Group

Puta Tofinga, Kiribati

Lilian Corra, International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE)

Francis Kihumba, Kenya

Elsa Ferreras de Sánchez, Dominican Republic

Contact Groups Throughout the Day

Contact Group on Reporting

Contact Group on the Financial Mechanism

Around the Venue

Ibrahim Thiaw, Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment, speaks with Jacob Duer, Principal Coordinator, Interim Secretariat of the Minamata Convention

John Whitelaw, Consultant with the Interim Secretariat (center), speaks with delegates from the US and Uruguay

Delegates from Japan

Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions (right), with delegates from India and Lebanon

Delegates speak informally

A display listing the countries that have ratified the Minamata Convention, made from the wooden nameplates used at the Diplomatic Conference in Kumamoto in 2013 and refabricated by a Minamata disease patient and carpenter

Skin products are tested at the venue to see if they contain mercury

Participants