The Ministry of Environment hosted the 13th annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Mercury Monitoring Network Partners Meeting Sept. 3 in Taipei City, underscoring the government’s commitment to tackling pollution and safeguarding the planet through international cooperation.
According to the MOENV, the physical and virtual event was attended by 50-plus academics and officials from Australia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Palau, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Maldives and the U.S.
The meeting was co-hosted by Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming and Jane Nishida, assistant administrator of the Office of International and Tribal Affairs under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This edition marks the second consecutive year Taiwan has organized the event, demonstrating regional recognition for the country’s monitoring technology.
During the convention, David Schmeltz, senior analyst at the U.S. EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs, and David Gay of the U.S. National Atmospheric Deposition Program briefed participants on APMMN’s current progress and future prospects. Japan’s National Institute for Minamata Disease presented research on mercury levels in the East China Sea and northwestern Pacific Ocean, while officials from the MOENV shared best practices and achievements in response to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Minamata Convention on Mercury, the ministry said.
APMMN, jointly launched by Taiwan and the U.S. in 2012, is a cooperative mechanism aimed at systematically monitoring mercury in the air and rainwater throughout the Asia-Pacific. Since its inception, it has helped APEC member economies establish 14 mercury wet-deposition samplers and aided in the analysis of over 1,700 precipitation samples, the MOENV added. (POC-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw