Photo credit: UNEP
Since 2019, the Global Environment Facility-funded planetGOLD program has supported countries in addressing mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). Now, the program is set to expand, adding 15 additional countries: Bolivia, Ghana, Honduras, Madagascar, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Suriname, Uganda, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Guinea, Mali, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, and Zambia.
This second phase of the program will continue to promote existing core planetGOLD activities and strategies - working to close the financing gap, connecting mining communities with mercury-free technology and formal markets, and raising awareness - while placing special emphasis on promoting holistic, multisectoral, and integrated approaches to formalization.
“As the major source of mercury, ASGM is a high priority and the GEF is happy to support this second phase of planetGOLD with the addition of new countries,” says Anil Sookdeo, Coordinator of the GEF’s chemicals and waste team. “This program will bring thousands of miners into the formal economy and mobilize the sustainable financing that they need to succeed.”
The ASGM sector is the world’s largest source of global mercury pollution, according to the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Global Mercury Assessment, accounting for around one-third of total annual anthropogenic mercury air emissions. This sector provides employment for 10-20 million miners in over 80 countries and produces roughly 20% of the world’s gold. While millions of livelihoods rely on this industry, the inadvertent effects of gold extraction threaten the global environment and the well-being of societies around the world.
The second phase of planetGOLD will focus on bringing new approaches to formalize the ASGM sector by piloting jurisdictional approaches to sustainability that focus on areas defined by local and regional administrative boundaries and that reconcile social, economic, and environmental objectives through participation across stakeholders and sectors and with government involvement.
Jurisdictional approaches will explore sub-national level collaboration to find solutions to issues around illicit mercury trade, harmonization of fiscal regimes and policy frameworks, accounting for climate change in ASGM, setting policy targets for mercury reduction, and supporting transparent sourcing of gold that meets criteria for responsible practices and good governance. Through this jurisdictional approach, priorities and initiatives will be identified with potential to provide leverage through collaboration and common objectives, thus institutionalizing the interventions at both the sub-national and national levels.
“With this innovative approach to formalization, the planetGOLD program will be able to fully support participating countries in their efforts to reduce mercury emissions and ensure the sector provides employment to rural communities without adding to the environmental burden,” says Ludovic Bernaudat, planetGOLD program and Senior Task Manager for UNEP’s Chemicals and Waste branch.
Other integral parts of the program will continue to be introduced and emphasized in these countries, including access to finance and formal markets, mercury-free technology transfer, capacity building, maximizing the impact of communications at the local miner level, and knowledge sharing across the global ASGM sector. New and innovative approaches such as online education opportunities and digital marketing will be used to complement more traditional participatory workshops and training models.
The GEF-funded program Global Opportunities for Long-Term Development of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) Sector – Plus will be co-implemented by UNEP, Conservation International, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in collaboration with a range of other partners.
To follow updates on this expansion of planetGOLD, visit the planetGOLD phase 2 page.
Note: This article was updated in October 2022 to reflect changes in phase 2 of the planetGOLD program.
