ICMGP 2022 – On-Demand / Poster Presentation

Abstract Information :

The Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force in August 2017, and parties are required to take regulatory actions to lower anthropogenic inputs of mercury (Hg) to the atmosphere. The final aim is to protect humans and wildlife from chronic exposure to Hg, which causes diseases involving neural system function and development. Hg threatens human health through consumption of Hg containing food, mainly piscivorous fish and in some regions, rice. However, a lot of scientific uncertainties remain in describing the complex phenomena that Hg undergoes in the atmosphere, which in turn results in large difficulties for any Hg policies to be readily, or adequately, assessed. Indeed, only complex and computationally expensive modelling tools allow the tracking of the fate of Hg from its source to its eventual area of deposition. Over recent years, efforts have been made to develop a set of reduced modelling tools that can be used by non-expert users to evaluate Hg policies applied worldwide. These tools are now part of the GOS4M Knowledge Hub, a public web application that provides user friendly interfaces to state-of-the-art modelling tools, and data available in the literature. It is currently possible to evaluate, within a source-receptor framework, the short- and long-term effects of Hg emission reductions in terms of Hg deposition over oceans, in real-time, compared to the days or weeks required by traditional modelling tools. However, the GOS4M Knowledge Hub is open and designed to house other widgets and modelling tools, and efforts are now focusing on the evaluation of the financial sustainability of the policies being implemented. Reducing the gap toward the very endpoint of any Hg policies, that is human exposure, is also being investigated.