Guidance on the management of sites contaminated by mercury and mercury compounds
The Conference of the Parties,Recognizing the need to assist parties in the environmentally sound management of sites contaminated by mercury and mercury compounds through the provision of guidance,Taking note of the draft guidance prepared by the secretariat in consultation with nominated experts,11UNEP/MC/COP.2/7, annex II.Encouraging all parties that have experience and in particular those facing challenges in addressing sites contaminated by mercury and mercury compounds to contribute to the development of guidance,Encouraging parties to cooperate in developing strategies and implementing activities for identifying, assessing, prioritizing, managing and, as appropriate, remediating contaminated sites,1.Requests the secretariat:(a)To call for parties and stakeholders to submit, by 15 February 2019, additional comments and information to complement and further improve the draft guidance,2 calling in particular for information and comments, including case studies, on:2UNEP/MC/COP.2/7, annex II.(i)Situations that are site-specific to mercury that parties may face, such as the decommissioning of chlor-alkali plants and addressing contamination due to artisanal and small-scale gold-mining activities, etc.;(ii)The role played by inventories of contaminated sites in strategies and policies relating to contaminated sites;(iii)Prioritization for further action on contaminated sites based on risk assessment;(iv)The interface between contaminated site policies and land-use planning policies;(v)Existing procedures for the characterization of contaminated sites, including approaches and techniques for sampling and analysis;(vi)The existing range of proven and emerging remediation techniques, including situations in which certain techniques may or may not be appropriate, environmental advantages and drawbacks and costs;(vii)Socioeconomic and cultural considerations during the remediation of contaminated sites;(viii)Information on approaches to financing work on and building capacity for the identification, assessment, remediation and risk management of contaminated sites, including frameworks for domestic financing;(b)To compile the information submitted by parties and stakeholders in accordance with paragraph 1 (a) above and make it available on the website of the Convention;(c)To prepare, by 31 March 2019, with the support of an external expert, subject to the availability of resources and taking into account the information received in accordance with paragraph 1 (a) above:(i)Revised draft guidance on the management of contaminated sites, drafted in non-prescriptive language, providing general advice to parties taking into consideration the variety of national circumstances of parties, that distinguishes between contaminated sites and mining sites that are being managed in an environmentally sound manner;(ii)A draft framework and decision tree for the management of contaminated sites;and to submit them to the group of experts nominated in accordance with decision MC-1/20, parties and stakeholders for their comments;(d)To further revise the draft guidance, by 31 May 2019, taking into account the comments submitted in accordance with paragraph 2 below, for consideration by the Conference at its third meeting;2.Requests the group of experts nominated in accordance with decision MC-1/20, and invites parties and stakeholders, to review and submit comments, by 30 April 2019, on the revised draft guidance and the draft framework and decision tree for the management of contaminated sites prepared by the secretariat in accordance with paragraph 1 (c) above.