A global mercury conference in Geneva faced sharp criticism Friday from environmental and Indigenous groups for failing to take stronger steps against mercury use in small-scale gold mining.

The practice is the world’s largest source of mercury pollution and an increasing threat to the Amazon rainforest.

Delegates at the sixth Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention, a United Nations treaty aimed at curbing mercury pollution, agreed in Geneva to phase out mercury in dental fillings by 2034, a decision hailed as a health win after a decade-long campaign. But activists said the move fell far short of addressing mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining which they warn is poisoning communities and ecosystems across Latin America, Africa and Asia.

“Eight years after entering into force, the convention should signal a stronger commitment to prioritizing health over gold,” said Yuyun Ismawati, co-chair of the International Pollutants Elimination Network.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury, adopted in 2013 after a massive poisoning tragedy in Japan in the 1950s, was designed to reduce global mercury emissions. It restricts trade and requires governments to develop national action plans to limit mercury use in gold mining. But critics say those measures rely on slow bureaucratic processes and have done little to stop the mercury trade or its flow to illegal mining regions controlled by organized crime.

Mercury binds with gold, allowing miners to extract the metal from low-grade ore. The process — widely used in remote, informal mining zones — releases toxic vapor and mercury-laced waste that seeps into rivers. In the Amazon Basin, where illegal gold mining has surged as prices hit record highs, mercury is contaminating waterways that feed Indigenous villages and major tributaries of the Amazon River.

Pollution of Indigenous peoples food and water

Indigenous delegates from Brazil, Colombia and Peru attended the meeting as observers and spoke out about mercury contamination of their lands and food sources.

Jairo Saw Munduruku, a delegate of Brazil’s Munduruku people in the Amazon Basin, told The Associated Press that Indigenous representatives welcomed the chance to speak but were disappointed by the lack of concrete action. He warned that mercury from illegal mining is poisoning rivers and fish that sustain their communities, causing neurological damage among children and threatening their way of life.

“Many countries said they would stop using mercury, but others don’t want it completely banned,” he said via voice messages on messaging app. “The decision wasn’t very good, but we will keep fighting.”

Studies in recent years have shown alarming levels of mercury in Amazonian wildlife and people. One study cited by IPEN found that nearly all Indigenous women tested in communities in Peru and Nicaragua had mercury levels several times above safe limits.

Exposure to the metal can cause severe neurological and developmental damage, particularly in unborn children, and builds up in fish that serve as the main protein source for millions of people. In many parts of the Amazon, rivers have become conduits for invisible contamination, linking remote mining camps to Indigenous communities hundreds of miles away.

Research used in AP reporting this year from Peru and Colombia has shown similar findings — from fish contaminated far beyond consumption standards to pink river dolphins carrying some of the highest concentrations ever recorded in wildlife.

A call to completely ban mercury in gold mining

“Unfortunately, this week the COP fiddled while Rome burned,” said Lee Bell, an IPEN policy adviser. “Small adjustments were made to minor issues while delegates failed to confront the mercury pollution crisis in the Amazon.”

Environmental groups are calling for amendments to the treaty to ban mercury in gold mining altogether, close remaining mercury mines, and end the global trade in the substance.

The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and toxics, Marcos Orellana, also urged delegates to strengthen the convention, warning that current loopholes allow mercury use in mining to expand unchecked. Orellana spoke to AP about the serious mercury situation along Colombia’s Atrato River last month, threatening the health and survival of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities who depend on the river for food, water and culture.

The meeting’s only formal discussion of gold mining focused on improving transparency in the gold trade and promoting markets for mercury-free gold. Activists say those steps ignore the scale of the problem — a crisis worsened by record gold prices, corruption and weak law enforcement across the Amazon.

As delegates left Geneva, campaigners warned that without decisive action, the world’s largest rainforest will remain one of its most toxic.

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