Jakarta (ANTARA) - Director general of garbage, waste, and toxic materials at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), Rose Vivien Ratnawati, highlighted Indonesia's achievements in eliminating the use of mercury at a press conference on Tuesday.
Between 2019 and 2020, Indonesia has managed to reduce the use of mercury by 10.45 tons in small-scale gold mining, she informed.
According to the 2020 national action plan for Reduction and Elimination of Mercury (RAN PPM) report, use of mercury in lamps and in the battery industry was brought down by 374.4 kilograms in 2020.
Meanwhile, mercury emissions in the priority energy sector were lowered by around 719 kilograms in the same year.
In health devices, such as blood pressure gauges and thermometers, the use of mercury was reduced by 4.73 ton, she informed.
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Ratnawati asserted that environmental and health problems posed by the use of mercury and the release of mercury emissions are issues of global concern.
Hence, it is important to implement strategies to reduce and eliminate mercury use, she added.
The Indonesian government has taken real steps towards this by ratifying Law No. 11 of 2017 concerning the Ratification of the Minamata Convention On Mercury, which has been followed up with RAN PPM, Ratnawati said.
Indonesia will also host the Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 4) to the Minamata Convention, which will be held online in November 2021 and face-to-face in Bali in March 2022, she added.
"Indonesia will push onward and stay committed to reduce and eliminate the use of mercury," she assured.
The Minamata Convention is an international pact for protecting human and environment health from the adverse effects of mercury, which is known to cause Minamata disease.
The pact was adopted on October 13, 2013 and has so far been signed by 128 countries.
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