The Minamata Convention - what it means for Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining

The very existence of a multilateral environment agreement of any kind, in this age of global discord, is itself a minor miracle.  Also notable is the fact that mercury use in artisanal and small scale gold mining (ASGM) merited its very own Article in the treaty. This tacit acknowledgment of the importance of ASGM in the global mercury picture is a far cry from UNEP’s 2002 Global Mercury Assessment (GMA) which barely mentioned ASGM.  In contrast, UNEP’s 2013 Global Mercury Assessment estimates that ASGM is now the largest source of mercury emissions and releases in the world.  People can (and do) argue about the reasons why the ASGM emissions and release estimates have risen dramatically over the past few years, but whatever the numbers “really” are, there is little dispute that ASGM is a major source of mercury pollution that directly affects millions of miners and their families, nearby communities and the global environment.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/skeane/the_minamata_convention_-_what.html