Named after a city in Japan where serious health damage occurred as a result of mercury pollution in the mid-20th century, the Minamata Convention aims to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.

A year after the adoption of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, ministers and senior government officials from around the world have renewed the international community’s commitment to combat the global threat posed to human health and the environment from mercury pollution worldwide.

The high-level special event - “The Minamata Convention on Mercury: Towards its early entry into force and effective implementation” – witnessed five states agreeing to become parties to the Minamata Convention and an additional 18 states signing the treaty.

Held in the margins of the opening of the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly, and in conjunction with the Secretary-General’s annual Treaty Event, the event was jointly convened by the Governments of Japan, Switzerland, the United States and Uruguay, with the assistance of UNEP.

Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP, said: "I congratulate the countries signing and ratifying the Minamata Convention today as they now join the international community's commitment to address a pollutant -- mercury -- whose impact and notoriety is truly global. Their diversity speaks to the treaty's universal nature and relevance as they encompass both large and small nations, rich and poor, tropical and polar. While there is much to celebrate today, it is now imperative that we use this momentum and move towards the Convention's early entry into force. It is critical that we begin the implementation phase as soon as possible in order to protect human health and the environment for the current generation and those yet to come."

More information here or email mijke.hertoghs@unep.org

The 2014 Global Environmental Policy Programme (GEPP) was successfully held in Geneva, Switzerland from 31 August to 12 September.

The GEPP is a joint Executive Summer School programme of UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe and the Institute for Environmental Sciences of the University of Geneva. This year’s programme focused on thematic modules on Negotiation Skills and Consensus Building; the Green Economy; Institutional Governance and Legal Instruments; Risk Governance; Environmental Ethics and Social Justice; Climate Change Adaptation; Environmental Health Challenges and the complexity, transdisciplinary and participatory decision making.

Through lectures, practical exercises and individual interaction the participants were presented with new opportunities to exchange and share wide ranging ideas, knowledge, and were able to examine the practical implications of Environmental Policy at national, regional and global levels. The carefully designed programme has given them new perspectives linked to Environmental Policy development and implementation. The GEPP is a unique learning initiative that bridges the gap between scientific research and multilateral governance processes.

This year the programme brought together 16 participates from 14 countries representing governments, municipalities, IGOs, NGOs, universities and the private sector.

More information: sylvie.motard@unep.org and www.unige.ch/GEPP

On 21 September, the day before World Rhino Day, confiscated rhino horns were destroyed at the Dvùr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic, as part of an international campaign designed to highlight the plight of a species being driven towards extinction by poachers. This was the very first public destruction of confiscated rhino horns in Europe. Invited by the Czech Minister for the Environment, CITES Secretary-General John E. Scanlon attended the event. "This awareness exercise will not put an end to the illegal trade. However, the destruction sends a powerful public message that the Czech Republic does not accept and will not tolerate this illegal trade or the devastating impact it is having on the rhino and on the livelihoods of local communities", said Mr Scanlon.

The recovery of the CITES-listed African black and white rhino populations in the wild over the past few decades, after being hunted close to extinction, is a great conservation success story – and for the first seven years of this century poaching levels had remained low at around ten a year. After 2007, however, a sharp upward trend in poaching started to emerge – a trend that has continued to the point where over 1,000 rhinos were illegally killed for their horn in South Africa alone in 2013 and over 700 killed so far this year. These disturbing trends cannot be sustained and if they are not stopped this magnificent animal will become extinct in the wild across its range in our lifetimes.

In his concluding remarks, CITES Secretary-General said: “Strong enforcement action is being taken in the Czech Republic, including the apprehension of 16 suspects in July 2013, of recruited hunters, recruiters from crime groups and their assistants, which is also most encouraging. Giving publicity to such decisive actions sends a clear message to those who trade illegally in rhino horn that they face an ever-increasing risk of detection, prosecution and conviction leading to imprisonment, heavy fines, and seized assets for their illicit activities.”

More information: juan.vasquez@cites.org

From 23 to 26 September, environment ministers and other high-level government officials of the seven Carpathian States met in Mikulov, Czech Republic for the fourth Conference of the Parties (COP4) to the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians.

Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Republic of Serbia, Slovak Republic and Ukraine have unanimously adopted the Protocol on Sustainable Transport. With the substantial support of the European Academy Bolzano (EURAC), several institutions and partners like Austria and Italy, including the civil society (WWF and IENE Network), the Protocol was the result of a series of intergovernmental negotiations in the context of the Working Group (technically and financially supported by the European Union "Access2Mountain" Project). Sustainable transport represents a major challenge for today's rural and urban environments – particularly in sensitive mountain regions of the Carpathians. Addressing the Ministerial segment, Mr Jan Dusik, UNEP Regional Director for Europe said: "Green Infrastructure is one of the main issues to be tackled in the future under the incoming Czech Republic's presidency of the Carpathian Convention as well as at the EU level; the new Transport Protocol gives the Carpathian countries an important tool in this respect.

Countries also adopted the Ministerial Declaration on Cultural Heritage and the Joint Alpine - Carpathian Statement on Adaptation to Climate Change. Concluding the meeting, Mr Dusik said "With great pleasure I note that further important steps have been taken towards the future ratification and implementation of the Protocols on Biodiversity, on Forests and on Sustainable Tourism. Besides the many other achievements in the various thematic fields (forestry, tourism, climate change etc.), and the realisation of concrete projects and initiatives in the various fields, I want to highlight particularly the value of strategic partnerships between the Convention with other Conventions and Institutions." The importance of the Carpathians is also continuously reflected at the global level, notably in the context of the UN, and besides the Alpine Convention often referred to as a best-practice example of regional mountain governance.

The Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians (Carpathian Convention) is the only multi-level governance mechanism covering the whole of the Carpathian area and the second sub-regional treaty-based regime for the protection of a mountain region worldwide. Since 2004, the Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (ISCC) is administered by UNEP through its Vienna office.

More information: www.carpathianconvention.org