International mercury pollution conference opens at IIT Hyderabad
Scientists, policymakers and environmental specialists from around the world are meeting at IIT Hyderabad for the first Indian edition of the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant. The six-day programme will examine monitoring, health, technology and policy under the Minamata Convention.
The 17th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant has opened at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, bringing together scientists, policymakers, environmental practitioners, industry representatives and early-career researchers. The six-day conference is being held in India for the first time. Its theme is “Reaching 10 years of enforcement of the Minamata Convention: achievements, challenges and roadmap for the future”.
The programme will examine scientific evidence, technologies and policy approaches related to mercury pollution. Sessions will cover mercury monitoring, human biomonitoring, biodiversity, cosmetics, artisanal and small-scale gold mining, the oil and gas sector, wetlands, environmental modelling and machine learning. The conference will also consider how research can inform international policy.
Sessions co-chaired by the United Nations Environment Programme will focus on tracking reductions in mercury pollution and strengthening evidence for implementation of the Minamata Convention. A special session titled “Complexion of change: challenging colourism through policy, art, and science” will examine mercury-containing skin-lightening products alongside health, identity, colourism and environmental sustainability. It is being organised by UNEP, Circular Innovation Lab and Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad.
Filmmaker and advocate Nina Davuluri is due to participate alongside representatives of the Minamata Convention, UNEP officials and public-health experts. Organisers also said a delegation from Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture would attend and that a survivor of Minamata disease would provide testimony. Mae S.
Gustin will receive the Kathryn R. Mahaffey Lifetime Achievement Award, while Qingru Wu of Tsinghua University will receive the ICMGP Emerging Researcher Award. The conference is intended to connect mercury science, environmental health and global policy.
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