Image
Women walking through a trash littered field in Dakar, Senegal

Promoting environmental health in Senegal

As the world is preparing to take stock of progress made to end pollution at the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility, we are reminded of the critical role we have in promoting environmental health and healthy living. In Senegal more than 2.7 million tons of solid waste are produced…
Image
Artisanal small gold miners at work in Kenya

Second phase of planetGOLD doubles countries addressing mercury in ASGM

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…
Image
Collecting PCB from transformers for proper disposal

Managing chemicals for a cleaner, healthier planet

Since it was signed 20 years ago, the Stockholm Convention has helped countries throughout the world to carefully manage the use, storage, distribution, and disposal of a particularly dangerous group of hazardous chemicals, the persistent organic pollutants or POPs.  Living in the early 21st…
Image
Woman mining for gold

How the Minamata Convention can help "build back better" on ASGM

As the Minamata Convention on Mercury reaches the third anniversary of its entry into force, I am so inspired by the work of those who are seeking to improve conditions for the world’s artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities by advancing solutions to the rampant use of toxic…
Image
Group photo of gold miners in Philippines

Why small-scale miners need our attention this Earth Day

On this day in 1970, millions of people in the United States turned out for rallies across the country calling for environmental protections against oil spills, air pollution, toxic dumps, pesticides, and other hazards to the environment. That day marked the beginning of a movement that would…
Image
Gold flakes in a sifting pan

Monitoring the impacts of COVID-19 on artisanal and small-scale gold mining

COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) is having profound impacts throughout the world. What's happening to ASGM miners, their communities, and planetGOLD country project teams? The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges throughout the world, upending the global economy, threatening the…
Image
Tractor spraying pesticides on vegetable field with sprayer at spring. Photo: Fotokostic/Shutterstock.

Fixing the food system: how cities can truly feed the world

Urban areas can change the broken food system that causes ill-health and environmental degradation Over half of the world’s 7.7 billion people live in towns and cities. By 2050, more than two thirds of them will do so. Materials, waste, emissions, knowledge and influence follow this population…

GEF Updates

Subscribe to our distribution list to receive the GEF Newsletter.

Sign up