The Governing Board of the Specific International Programme (SIP) of the Minamata Convention on Mercury at its Tenth Meeting held in Geneva from January 22 to 24, 2025, approved 10 projects for funding in the Fourth Round, with a total funding of $2,061,813.
Thirty-six applications were submitted by Parties to the Fourth Round, of which 29 were deemed eligible for further consideration by the Board at the meeting.
In a statement, Governing Board Co-Chairs, Mr. Obed Baloyi and Mr. Andrew Clark, disclosed that the Fourth Round resulted in the highest number of applications to the Programme to date, with 14 eligible applications from Africa, seven from Asia and the Pacific, three from Central and Eastern Europe, and five from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The large number of applications, they added, shows the strong commitment of the Parties to the full implementation of the Convention, and also shows the ongoing and growing need for support from the financial mechanism.
According to them, successful projects were submitted by Brazil, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Georgia, Madagascar, Montenegro, Sri Lanka, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
Baloyi and Clark added: “On behalf of the Board, we would like to congratulate these applicants for developing strong proposals for capacity-building and technical assistance in support of the implementation of their obligations under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
“The Board would like to commend all the applicants for their diligent work in preparing and submitting their applications. The quality of applications was outstanding, resulting in very challenging deliberations for the Board. The Board notes that, had the funding envelope been larger for this Round, it would have liked to approve more applications. The decisions we took in this meeting will be communicated to all applicants by the Secretariat in the coming days.
“The Board would like to thank Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States for their contributions to the Fourth Round of the Specific International Programme.
“The Board looks forward with anticipation to the Fifth Round of applications. Given the high interest shown in the Programme and the significant country needs expressed, we would like to strongly encourage those in a position to do so to contribute to a robust next round of the Programme.”
The Co-Chairs disclosed that the Board would present its full report to the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting, submitting: “As Co-Chairs, we would also like to thank our fellow Board members for their diligent and constructive work in preparation for and throughout the meeting. All the members of the Board join us in thanking the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention for its excellent work in support of the work of the Board and of the implementation of all the projects both underway and closed during the life of the Programme to date.”