Mercury Inventory Training in Jordan, May 2016

The Minamata Convention on Mercury, ratified by 25 countries (as of 10 May 2016), is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. It clearly underscores the need for actions to reduce further anthropogenic mercury releases; these actions should be guided by reliable information on sources of mercury emissions and releases. Therefore, developing robust, national inventories of emissions and releases is critical in identifying and addressing the issue.

As such, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research organised four-day training workshop on development of national mercury inventories. The workshop will be held from 9 - 12 May in Amman, Jordan. The training workshop is part of UNITAR's ongoing Minamata Initial Assessment project with the Republic of Yemen. The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Although the training has been primarily organized for the Yemini delegates, in the spirit of cooperation with other UN agencies, UNITAR has also invited experts from Jordan and Macedonia to attend the workshop. This capacity building training is the first in a series of scheduled workshops organized by UNITAR to help countries in developing mercury inventories. The next workshops are planned for the end of May in Comoros and in July in Barcelona. More information about these workshops will be provided on UNITAR's website.