President Jokowi Asks For Quick Handling Of Pollution Due To Mercury

President Jokowi (DOK Secretariat)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo asked that efforts to protect human health and restore environmental conditions polluted by mercury be carried out quickly.

This was conveyed by the Director General of Waste Management of Waste and Hazardous Toxic Materials (PSLB3) of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, as well as the President of the Minamata Convention COP-4, Rosa Vivien Ratnawati.

"Regarding the implementation of the Minamata Convention COP-4, President Jokowi is very concerned about efforts to protect human health and restore environmental conditions polluted by mercury. He emphasized that these efforts must be carried out with quick steps," said Rosa as quoted by Antara, Friday, November 5.

Rosa emphasized that Indonesia is one of the countries that have signed and ratified the Minamata Convention. This time, Indonesia hosted the COP-4 Minamata Convention, the meeting was held in two stages.

The first stage will be held virtual 1-5 November 2021, while the second stage will be face-to-face in March 2022.

According to him, hosting the COP-4 Minamata Convention is a manifestation of President Jokowi's message in the aspect of Indonesia's environmental diplomacy at the global level.

He said hosting and the Presidency of the COP-4 Minamata Convention was a great opportunity for Indonesia to raise its role in environmental diplomacy, not only at the regional level but to the global level.

"Being the presidency for COP-4 opens Indonesia's opportunity to propose supporting instruments that will complement efforts to eliminate mercury at the global level. Indonesia takes advantage of this momentum by proposing a non-binding political declaration to invite all countries together to fight the global illegal trade in mercury. This declaration is called the Bali Declaration on Combating Mercury Illegal Trade of Mercury, which is called the 'Bali Declaration'," he explained.

He conveyed that at the Asia Pacific regional level, as the presidency for the COP-4 Minamata Convention, Indonesia became a leader in the proceedings. In addition, Indonesia does not stop to mainstream the Bali Declaration proposal to all countries in the Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia regions.

During the implementation of the first phase of COP-4 of the Minamata Convention, Indonesia received a special consultation session to explain the contents of the Bali Declaration in detail to the countries present in order to get more input from other countries on the results of the declaration.

It is hoped that at the second stage of COP 4, this declaration will be adopted by consensus by all countries through a holistic approach.

There are also efforts made by Indonesia to maximize the mainstreaming of the Bali Declaration on the momentum of the COP-4 Minamata Convention, including taking advantage of every opportunity provided by the Minamata Convention Secretariat to gather support and open to receiving input from other countries on the draft Bali Declaration.

"Indonesia, represented by the Head of the Indonesian Delegation, Mr. Muhsin Syihab, has several times explained the contents of the Bali Declaration, including at each regional meeting to prepare for the implementation of COP 4 stage 1 which was held before the COP 4 stage 1 began as well as in the Special Consultation Session on Bali Declaration on Wednesday (3/11)," he explained.