Building a Mercury Monitoring Network
Laboratory networks for mercury and other contaminant analyses in regional hubs throughout the world, especially in mercury hotspots, will provide important information for the assessment of risk, both to humans and wildlife, in these environments.
BRI’s extensive mercury work in the Caribbean Region has led the way for the first network of integrated laboratories to be established. The primary toxicology laboratory will be located in Antigua and Barbuda, with secondary laboratories in other Caribbean countries. These labs will serve as the regional hubs for mercury analyses of abiotic and biotic samples that are used for assessing human and environmental health.
Download the Caribbean Region Mercury Monitoring Network report here.
As International Technical Experts, BRI assissted several small island developing states of the Caribbean, including Grenada, as part of a regional Minamata Initial Assessment. The Basel Convention Regional Center for the Caribbean implemented the regional MIA project and BRI provided expertise to assist with the development of national mercury inventories for each participating country using UN Environment’s Toolkit for Identification and Quantification of Mercury Releases. The results of this regional MIA will assist Grenada with meeting requirements outlined by the Minamata Convention to reduce mercury in the environment and exposure of mercury to humans.
Formal Capacity: International Technical Expert
Project Lead: David Evers
Funding/Implementing Agency: GEF/UN Environment
Executing Agency: Basel Convention Regional Center for the Caribbean
State of Mercury in Grenada
Under the Minamata Convention, individual countries are charged with protecting human health and the environment from the risks of mercury exposure by systematically controlling mercury emissions and releases, including phasing out the use of mercury in certain products and processes.
Antigua and Barbuda became a Party to the Minamata Convention in 2017, while Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are taking meaningful steps to accede to the Convention. In order to assist with preparations for the ratification and implementation of the Convention, the Governments of these island nations are each conducting a Mercury Initial Assessment (MIA).
Country Profile
- Population: 107,317 (World Bank 2016)
- Surface Area: 345 sq km (UN Data 2014)
- Capital City: Saint George’s
- Official Language: English
- Fish Production: 2,707 tonnes (FAO 2015)
- UN Membership Date: September 17, 1974
Inception Meeting and Mercury Inventory Training Workshop
Representatives from Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gathered in Jolly Harbour, Antigua, March 14-16, 2018, for the Minamata Initial Assessment Regional Inception Meeting and Inventory Workshop. At the workshop, BRI’s David Evers, Oksana Lane, and Molly Taylor presented on a variety of mercury-related topics such as the development of national mercury inventories, biomonitoring, cosmetic sampling, and air sampling.
