Highlights and images for 6 November 2025

The penultimate day of the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-6) to the Minamata Convention was punctuated by three brief plenaries to adopt decisions and hear updates about the state of play on issues. Delegates spent most of the day, however, shuttling between contact groups, informal groups, and sideline consultations seeking to resolve sticking points.

Delegates adopted six decisions on: trade in mercury compounds; biodiversity; international cooperation; follow-up to the Gender Action Plan; supply sources and trade; and COP-7 dates and venue.

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

The trade in mercury compounds decision invites Parties and stakeholders to submit to the Secretariat by 31 March 2026 available information on supply, use, and trade of mercury compounds and share views on which compounds could be listed in a new Convention annex.

The biodiversity decision requests Parties and relevant stakeholders to undertake the actions suggested in the Road Map for enhancing co-benefits from implementation of the Minamata Convention and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by 2030. It also encourages Parties to integrate actions on reducing mercury pollution from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) into national biodiversity strategies and action plans.

Among other things, the international cooperation decision calls for:

• seeking partnership with the new Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution;
• enhancing cooperation with the Global Framework on Chemicals; and
• seeking membership in the Inter-Organization Programme for Sound Management of Chemicals.

The decision on follow-up to the Gender Action Plan requests the Secretariat to carry out activities to address the health concerns of women and children during the biennium 2026–2027 and propose to COP-7 other activities for the 2028–2029 biennium.

Delegates adopted a decision on supply sources and trade, along with addenda containing updates to the guidance on the identification of individual stocks of mercury or mercury compounds and to the guidance on the use of forms. The decision also requests the Secretariat to:

• develop, in collaboration with Parties and organizations with expertise on illegal trade, a report presenting strategies to address the supply and trade of mercury for Parties not in compliance with Article 3 of the Convention; and
• develop guidance for a consistent use of harmonized system codes related to mercury-containing goods.

As for the COP-7 date and venue, delegates decided to hold the next COP in Geneva on 14–18 June 2027.