UN Environment is currently developing a Global Mercury Assessment (GMA) to be finalized by the end of 2018, as requested by the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme (now UN Environment Assembly) (Decision 27/12: Chemicals and waste management, 2013).
The work will be presented in two reports;
1. A Technical Background Report, a fully referenced scientific report (prepared in cooperation with the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), and a
2. Summary report for policy makers (the UN Environment’s GMA report to UN Environment Assembly)
A DRAFT Technical Background Report, developed by scientists and experts from all over the world, is now available below for review. This review is an open process intended to solicit comments from countries, the scientific community and interested stakeholders. The draft includes the substantially complete drafts of all of the main chapters of the technical background document, although certain sections are still under development and some data will be further refined/checked over the course of the summer/autumn of 2017; where this is the case this is indicated by explanatory notes in the draft.
IMPORTANT: Please note that this is a draft for review purposes only. You are kindly asked to treat it as such and not to cite, copy or otherwise circulate these materials outside of the context of this review.
The deadline for comments is 15 October 2017. Please refer to the guidance below for further information on the submission of comments.
Guidance on how to comment: PDF
Consolidated draft (all chapters excluding annexes): PDF (6.6MB)
Individual chapters
Chapter 1 Introduction: PDF (1.7MB)
Chapter 2 Global emission of mercury to the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources: PDF (1.6MB)
Chapter 3 Levels of mercury in air : PDF (2.6MB)
Chapter 4 Atmospheric pathways, transport and fate: PDF (1.7MB)
Chapter 5 Releases of mercury to the aquatic environment from anthropogenic sources: PDF (1.3MB)
Chapter 6 Relationship between trends in atmospheric mercury and mercury in aquatic biota: PDF (2.4MB)
Chapter 7 Mercury concentrations in biota: PDF (1.1MB)
Chapter 8 Mercury levels and trends in human populations worldwide: PDF (1.3MB)
Annexes
Chapter 2 Annexes 1-4 and 6: PDF (2.3MB)
Chapter 2 Annex 5 Preliminary activity data: PDF (2.6MB)
Chapter 2 Annex 8 Preliminary estimates: PDF (2.3MB)
