The NIMD Forum 2023 was held over two days from November 18 (Sat.) to 19 (Sun.), 2023, at the auditorium of the Minamata Disease Achieves. The forum was held in a completely face-to-face format and was attended by about 70 people. The forum featured keynote speeches by the two researchers who drafted the atmospheric and biological areas of the guidance documents for mercury monitoring of air, organisms, and humans, which is an important part of the effectiveness evaluation of the Minamata Convention. In addition, there were the presentations by the key persons involved in environmental mercury monitoring in the U.S., Asia, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. Moreover, high school and technical college students were invited to present their research. After these lectures, a general discussion was also held to discuss the challenges to realize sustainable monitoring activities to obtain long-term monitoring data that will contribute to the effectiveness evaluation of the Minamata Convention.
The project managers of international networks, researchers, and students presented their projects and research from different perspectives. By exchanging information among parties involved in the field of environmental monitoring but in different positions, advanced research and monitoring networking, citizen science, and other activities were reaffirmed by the participants as being consistent, and it is believed that this helped them to consider the future development of their research and monitoring activities.
For more information on the contents of the presentations and other details, please see the abstract book below.